In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama, speaking at a factory in Ohio, discusses legislation he signed on Friday that keeps thousands of construction workers on the job rebuilding infrastructure and stops interest rates on federal loans from doubling this year for more than seven million students.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … A TICKET TO RIDE: HIGH-SPEED RAIL MOVES FORWARD (ON A BUMPY TRACK) IN CALIFORNIA and DARK KNIGHTS, AVENGERS, BONDING RETRO ACTION HEROES: HOW LONG WILL THE SUPERHERO PHENOMENON LAST?
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Maryland.
Obama is at the Camp David presidential retreat in the Maryland countryside on Saturday.
On Sunday, he returns to the White House.
Obama has no scheduled public events this weekend.
Here’s what his week ahead looks like. His public schedule does not reflect crisis management activities behind the scnes, and is even more flexible than usual.
On Monday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
On Tuesday, Obama will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to deliver remarks at a campaign event and will return to Washington, DC in the evening.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
On Friday, Obama will travel to Virginia for campaign events before returning to Washington, DC in the evening.
On Saturday, the President will travel to Virginia for campaign events before returning to Washington, DC in the evening.
Iranian leaders are again threatening to close down the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important maritime choke point for oil shipments.
New European Union embargoes against Iran have just gone into effect.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
In a rather dramatic vote, pro-high speed rail forces narrowly prevailed Friday afternoon in the California State Senate vote to authorize the beginning of construction of the first and only such project in America.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … A TICKET TO RIDE: HIGH-SPEED RAIL MOVES FORWARD (ON A BUMPY TRACK) IN CALIFORNIA.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown won a big victory on Friday afternoon when the state Senate voted to authorize the beginning of construction of California’s long-awaited and controversial high-speed rail system.
The vote was 21 to 16.
Brown issued this statement afterward: “In 2008, California voters decided to create jobs and modernize our state’s rail transportation system with a major investment in high-speed rail and key local projects in Northern and Southern California. The Legislature took bold action today that gets Californians back to work and puts California out in front once again.”
The bill passed the Assembly on Thursday by a vote of 51 to 27.
All Republicans in both houses were opposed, though some didn’t show or vote in the Senate.
Four Democrats voted no. Three of them were always opponents of this project, though some in the state press corps don’t seem to have understood that.
The fourth, state Senator Fran Pavley, was on some level a surprise, as she is a staunch environmentalist and liberal who authored and co-authored the state’s two landmark laws on greenhouse gas emissions. The first being the tailpipe emissions bill signed into law in 2002 by then Governor Gray Davis. The second, of course, being the overall climate change act, AB 32, signed into law in 2006 by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But Pavley is running this year in a new district which is much more conservative. She is likely to win it, but didn’t need to set up a line of attack on the bullet train.
I believe that, had her vote been absolutely needed, Pavley would have voted yes. As it was, the needed 21 votes were secured yesterday after major lobbying efforts by Brown, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, whom many had doubted but who clearly came through in the clutch, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, organized labor, and various business leaders, among others.
The opponents of high-speed rail, mainly all the Republicans not named Arnold Schwarzenegger (and his lieutenant governor, Abel Maldonado), have long deliberately conflated the facts about the funding for this project. Now they do it as part of their agenda to further wreak havoc on the state budget and block Brown’s revenue initiative.
The funds to get this project going in a big way, of course, do not come from California’s general fund, aside from some interest payments down the line which are minor. They come instead from proceeds of already approved bonds backed by Schwarzenegger and many others in 2008 and from federal funds, which Schwarzenegger played the lead role in securing, especially from some states whose conservative Republican governors spurned funding in 2009 and 2010.
But the anti-bullet train PR, aided by reporting that in some cases deliberately distorts and in others glides over the facts, was much more effective than the pro-side, which made only a minimal effort.
Distortion and poor reporting led to a false meme this past week, based on a Field Poll, that getting high-speed rail going can kill Brown’s initiative.
About a fifth of supporters said that passage would make them less likely to vote yes. And a fifth, naturally unreported, said that passage would make them more likely to vote yes.
The poll, whose release was geared directly to the legislative vote, did not present voters with the facts about where the money comes from, either.
I’ll have a lot more on this after the weekend.
Brown also appointed two new members of the California State University Board of Trustees.
Hugo Morales is a Mexican immigrant and former farm worker who graduated from Harvard Law School and founded the bilingual radio station in the Central Valley.
Lupe Garcia is an attorney for The Gap, where First Lady/Special Advisor Anne Gust Brown of course was long a top executive.
Conservative Republican challenger Mitt Romney, campaigning not far from his vacation home in New Hampshire, tried to make hay Friday morning out of a weak jobs report showing only 80,000 new jobs last month.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … A TICKET TO RIDE: HIGH-SPEED RAIL MOVES FORWARD (ON A BUMPY TRACK) IN CALIFORNIA.
**** FRIDAY 4 PM PACIFIC UPDATE: CALIFORNIA BULLET TRAIN START AUTHORIZED. The beginning of construction of California’s high-speed rail system, the first and only such project in America, was just approved by the California State Senate, with a bare majority of 21 votes in favor.
** OBAMA TODAY – FRIDAY. President Barack Obama is in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, and Maryland.
Obama toured Summer Garden Food Manufacturing early this morning in Boardman, Ohio.
He then went on to deliver remarks at a campaign event at Dobbins Elementary School in Poland, Ohio.
Following that, he moved on to tour and speak at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
That wraps up his bus tour.
At 12:10 PM Pacific, Obama departs Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews.
At 1:10 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.
At 1:25 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
At 1:55 PM Pacific, Obama holds an event at the White House with construction workers and college students to sign HR 4348.
This bill reauthorizes federal highway and transportation programs through the end of fiscal year 2014.
Local Event Time: 4:55 PM EDT
At 3 PM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to the Camp David presidential retreat.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – FRIDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is wrapping up work with the legislature on several issues before its summer recess begins. A vote on beginning construction of the high-speed rail system is on tap for Friday in the state Senate.
The legislation passed the Assembly yesterday, 51-27, but is much closer in the Senate.
Anti-HSR advocates have largely enjoyed free rein with their PR and media coverage.
Opposition hinges on the silly notion that right-wing control of Congress, a key funding source, is assured in perpetuity and of course is backstopped by the old energy economy. And on conflation of funding sources. Aside from some interest payments, which amount to budget dust in the scheme of things, none of the project to be authorized today will be financed out of the state’s general fund. The start-up phase will be financed by federal grants and already authorized bonds.
The legislature yesterday voted to move the big water bond worked out by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to another ballot. It’s too big a lift for this environment, especially with Brown’s revenue initiative on the ballot and probably without. After all, there is no sense of a drought.
No longer on tap for the pre-recess period is a vote on public pension reform. Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have not had a meeting of the minds on that, even though tangible progress is needed to bolster the November revenue initiative. So they will take it up later this summer.
Trucks carrying NATO supplies for the Afghan War resumed their routes through Pakistan to Afghanistan on Thursday, following Islamabad’s agreement to end its seven-month blockade.
** OBAMA TODAY – THURSDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Ohio.
Obama received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He then flew on Air Force One to Toledo, Ohio, where he began a campaign bus tour.
This is the “Betting On America” tour which will take Obama through Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
Obama proceeded to Maumee, Ohio, where he delivered remarks at a campaign event in the Wolcott House Museum Complex.
At 12:40 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at Washington Park in Sandusky, Ohio.
At 4:15 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at James Day Park in Parma, Ohio.
Obama spends the evening in Akron, Ohio.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney, not surprisingly, continues to struggle in his response to last week’s US Supreme Court decision upholding the national health care law.
Pakistan finally agreed to allow US and NATO supplies for the Afghan War to again flow through its country and across its border.
Why, after a seven month blockage?
Because Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finally called Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and apologized for the killings by US forces of 24 Pakistani solders at a border outpost last November in an odd incident.
A formal apology had long been a precondition on the Pakistani side for resumption of the shipments.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – THURSDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
His major government reorganization plan, previously discussed here, went into effect over the weekend.
Brown is working with the legislature on several issues before its summer recess begins. A vote on beginning construction of the high-speed rail system is on tap.
The legislature will also vote to move the big water bond worked out by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to another ballot. It’s too big a lift for this environment, with Brown’s revenue initiative on the ballot.
No longer on tap for the pre-recess period is a vote on public pension reform. Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have not had a meeting of the minds on that, even though tangible progress is needed to bolster the November revenue initiative.
President Barack Obama has important events to celebrate Independence Day.
** FOUNDED IN ENLIGHTENMENT, AMERICA FACES IGNORANCE AND CONFUSION AS THE CHALLENGES GROW EVER MORE COMPLEX.As we prepare to celebrate the 236th birthday of America and its founding document, the Declaration of Independence, we have some deep problems. In some quarters, the ideals of the Enlightenment which gave rise to the nation are flatly rejected. In others, they are barely understood.
As a result, we have one major political party which is essentially anti-Enlightenment political party and a highly distractible and frequently very shallow media culture. And all of it as we face a set of very complex challenges requiring sophisticated knowledge and clarity of thought.
Amidst a welter of contentious issues, we have to grapple with a still very uncertain recovery from economic and financial meltdown, a struggle over the nature of democracy marked by the expansion of money politics, unprecedented environmental/climate challenges, and a big geopolitical pivot from over-engagement with Islam to increased engagement with Asia while still deeply entangled in war and potential war.
These things would challenge the best of the Enlightenment thinkers. But their ethic, which lies at the core of the foundation of America, is falling away.
The Enlightenment was a watershed period in political thought, a time of very creative philosophical development in Europe and North America which ran from the late 17th century through the whole of the 18th century and into the early 19th century. Drawing on Renaissance humanism and the emerging scientific revolution, Enlightenment thinkers rejected royalism, feudalism, and superstition, urging an egalitarian approach and expanding human rights, applying the reason of science to a society to be marked by a separation of church and state.
Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin — polymaths and promoters of science, disdainful of all religious orthodoxies, staunch democrats — were the key leaders of the American Enlightenment and the principal moving forces behind the Declaration of Independence, which was largely crafted by Jefferson. George Washington, John Adams and many others also partook of Enlightenment thought.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The Declaration of Independence
Jefferson and Franklin were also Revolutionary America’s first two ministers to France. Without the very active help of France, the United States may well have lost the Revolutionary War against Britain. And French thinking in turn helped spur the Enlightenment to begin with.
As president, Jefferson sent out the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the rest of the continent to the west, executed the Louisiana Purchase, thus vastly expanding the young nation, and waged America’s first foreign war. He promoted expansion in pursuit of exploration and core American interests while, at the same time, he urged the avoidance of unnecessary entanglements and the seeking of hegemony.
An example to keep clearly in mind as America undertakes an historic geopolitical pivot.
Throughout it all, Revolutionary America’s founding Enlightenment thinkers championed the expansion of knowledge, viewing ignorance as a mortal danger to the Republic. Today that danger is increasing.
A Gallup Poll last month brought home just how far away from Enlightenment thinking much of the country, largely the part represented by the Republican Party, has become. It’s shocking.
An astounding 46% of Americans believe in creationism, the doctrine that denies the science of evolution and holds that human beings in our present form were created by God within the past 10,000 years. This is is a doctrine which has people and dinosaurs all existing together, like in some cheesy old B-movie or TV show.
Big majorities of Democrats and independents reject this stuff but the great majority, some 60%, of Republicans embrace it. When you remove those Americans with postgraduate educations from the mix, most of the remaining Americans believe in creationism.
We have more and more media platforms, more and more tech, more and more ways of accessing information around the world, and it isn’t helping make people any better informed.
The overall numbers are essentially the same as they were 30 years ago. Even though there have been many well-known scientific discoveries over the past three decades demonstrating the science of evolution and debunking the superstitionism of creationism.
This is just the latest and greatest example of the rise of medieval anti-Enlightenment thinking in America.
The anti-Enlightenment forces in America have come together around some very bizarre notions that are contrary not only to science but to the Enlightenment principles that drove the American Revolution. From the evolution deniers and the birthers who scream that the first black president is really not an American at all but, naturally, an African to greenhouse deniers, anti-gays, anti-choicers, and on and on, denying the commitment to rationality and egalitarianism of the Declaration of Independence.
Centered around one party, the Republican Party, this has made the once Grand Old Party virtually unrecognizable from the organization that, in the past, embraced civil rights, conservation, and the preservation of the Union against the rebellion of states which today make up the geographic core of the anti-Enlightenment forces in America.
It was 149 years ago, the day before Independence Day, that the Union won a dearly-bought victory over the Confederacy at Gettysburg, the turning point in the Civil War and one of the crucial pivot points of American history. Some four months later, the man still credited as the father of a party he would scarcely recognize today made a speech commemorating the sacrifice and proclaiming the rebirth of the United States along the Enlightenment lines of the Declaration of Independence.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” President Abraham Lincoln began, making it clear that egalitarianism was at the core of his conception of the Re-United States he was bringing into being.
He closed his brief remarks, fewer than 300 words, by proclaiming dedication to “the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
In so doing, he rejected, as had Jefferson and Franklin and the other founders before him, royalism and feudalism in all its forms, positing the power and legitimacy of the state in the power and legitimacy of its people, not its elites.
Lincoln remade America by reaffirming the Enlightenment principles of the Declaration of Independence at a time of great turbulence and division. We live in a time of great turbulence and division as well, though the challenges are more multi-faceted and global.
Lincoln saw that Jefferson had framed an ideal nation toward which the real nation would evolve, each generation building upon the advances of the last. Change is the constant of the American experience. It’s the nature of the American ideal to experience continual revolution not through convulsive chaos but through constant evolution.
And so America today struggles with its latest evolution in human rights. Just as past generations of Americans have had to confront their own forms of insularity and squeamishness, we do the same with regard to LGBT rights and the struggle over same-sex marriage.
Just as past generations struggled with the expansion of human rights for blacks and other racial and ethnic groups and for women.
It’s important to remember that the Committee of Five of the Continental Congress — Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, John Adams of Massachusetts, Robert Livingston of New York, Roger Sherman of Connecticut — charged with producing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, included slavery as one of the ills to be removed from the new body politic.
But slavery’s end was not included in the Declaration. Practical politics dictated otherwise, so it was left to Lincoln to end slavery as he remade America in the most fundamental of conflicts over its nature.
Things very seldom happen all at once, but the Founders’ direction for America, one of historically expanding human rights, is clear.
So, too, is the intent for the ongoing expansion of knowledge. Without it, the democracy they established is threatened.
Which makes our state of increasing ignorance and confusion all the more dangerous.
As our nation, and the world of which it is a part, becomes ever more complex, our politics must improve. Which means that our media must improve.
Last week’s dramatic incident, in which some major media outlets falsely reported the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on President Barack Obama’s national health care law, brought the problem into sharp relief. I wrote about it here on the Huffington Post. When such basic facts as the up or down decision on one of the most relentlessly publicized issues around are screwed up, there’s not much hope of understanding more complex matters that don’t fit into simplistic templates.
So as we celebrate another day off and think of fireworks, hot dogs, and all the rest, let’s give some thought to how and why this country was founded. And consider how far we have to go in meeting challenges that would daunt even the best of the Founders.
From my July 2nd essay.
** OBAMA ON THE FOURTH. President Barack Obama is in Maryland and Washington, DC.
Obama returned from the Camp David presidential retreat early this morning.
He then delivered remarks at a naturalization ceremony for active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces in the East Room.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas presented the countries of the candidates for naturalization as American citizens and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano led the new citizens in the oath of allegiance.
At 3 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend a Fourth of July celebration on the South Lawn of the White House, where Obama delivers remarks.
The Obamas are hosting military heroes and their families for an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn with a barbeque, concert, and a view of the fireworks show from the National Mall. Staff and their families from throughout the administration will also attend this event for the concert and fireworks viewing.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of the morning.
Brown issued this statement on Independence Day:
“On July 2nd, 1776, in the midst of the Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress approved a resolution of independence, drafted by delegate Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, which gave force of law to our separation from the colonial power of Great Britain. Two days later, this resolution was made public in the form of the Declaration of Independence, whose primary author was Thomas Jefferson. Each year since then, we have celebrated the fourth day of July as Independence Day, the birthday of the United States of America.
“The famous principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence are not only the foundation of our country’s freedom: they have become a global standard for the liberty and autonomy of all peoples. As we participate in “Fourth of July” traditions from midday barbecues to evening pyrotechnics, I urge all Californians to remember the convictions of our forebears that led us to form a new nation, the courage of those who fought to make and keep us independent and the great work that lies ahead as we strive to fulfill the American dream of freedom and equality for all.”
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama speaks from Colorado, where he toured areas impacted by the devastating Colorado Springs “super-fire,” met with affected families, and thanked firefighters, first responders, and volunteers.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … AN ENLIGHTENED INDEPENDENCE DAY? and DARK KNIGHTS, AVENGERS, BONDING RETRO ACTION HEROES: SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** OBAMA THIS WEEKEND. President Barack Obama is in Washington early Saturday prior to leaving for Camp David with his family. He will stay at Camp David through Tuesday.
He has no scheduled events until the period right around Independence Day.
Here is what his 4th of July week schedule looks like. As usual, Obama’s public schedule does not reflect behind the scenes crisis management and contains plenty of space to react to breaking events.
On Monday and Tuesday, Obama will be at the Camp David presidential retreat. On Tuesday evening, he will return to the White House.
On Wednesday, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will celebrate the Fourth of July by hosting military heroes and their families for an Independence Day celebration with a barbeque, concert and a view of fireworks on the South Lawn. Staff and their families from throughout the administration will also attend the 4th of July celebration for the concert and fireworks viewing.
On Thursday and Friday, Obama will travel to swing states Ohio and Pennsylvania, where he leads conservative Republican challenger Mitt Romney, for a campaign bus tour.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Friday in St. Petersburg with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss Syria and Iran in advance of the weekend conference in Geneva on the Syrian crisis. The joint UN/Arab League negotiator, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, wants the conference to agree on a transitional Syrian government, something Russia, longtime ally of the Assad regime, has balked at.
Both Clinton and Lavrov said after their discussions that the US and Russian positions are moving closer together. But there was no agreement on any particulars of a transitional government.
Meeting in Geneva on Saturday, the world powers including Russia agreed to the creation of a transitional governmental body in Syria. This body is to take executive powers and manage the transition to a new permanent government for Syria.
But the specifics, of timing and personnel and actual steps, are still quite vague.
Still, it is a major step for the Russians, who have clung doggedly to support for the current Assad regime.
Meanwhile, there is heavy fighting again in the suburbs of Damascus.
If the situation continues as it has, there is plenty of opportunity for war to break out involving Turkey, as we saw with the F-4 shoot-down incident, and Iran, Syria’s other remaining close ally.
Things are complex enough in the region with Iran itself.
Negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program, which have gone nowhere in three major sessions in various international capitals in the past few months, will pick up at a lower level on Tuesday in Istanbul.
But there is little reason to believe that those negotiations will go any better, even though sanctions are taking very serious bites out of Iran already and are apt to do more.
And there is little reason to believe that Israel does not still view military strikes against Iran to be very much a live option, especially with Iran hanging tough and diplomacy stalling.
The European Union embargo on Iranian oil begins as July begins. And so does an end to the insurance provided by European firms for Iranian oil shipments. Europeans firms are the bulk of that market.
Iran acknowledges drops of 20% to 30% in its exports. And another sign that the sanctions are hurting came with Tehran urging an emergency meeting of OPEC to try to have Gulf Arab countries cut production and jack prices back up to $100-plus per barrel.
The likely winner of Sunday’s race for president of Mexico is a charismatic young former governor of the State of Mexico from the old PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), Enrique Pena Nieto. The PRI, which ruled Mexico as a one-party state for over 70 years before giving way to the moderate conservative PAN, has made a big comeback as PAN policies faded and violent drug cartels rose.
Mexico sees its presidential election on Sunday, and all indications are that the conservative PAN (Partido Accion Nacional) will lose the presidency it won in 2000 and won again in 2006. The former ruling party, the PRI, will take the presidency back, with the left-wing Partido de la Revolucion Democratica, the PRD, running third.
With violence from ultra-powerful drug cartels at frightening levels and corruption in Mexican institutions high, candidates have mostly scaled back their drug war rhetoric.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events over the weekend.
Brown dispatched units of the California Air National Guard to Colorado to aid in fighting the Colorado Springs super-fire. Two C-130s with modular firefighting systems and 30 crew members flew out to Colorado. All costs will be reimbursed by the federal government.
Heiress Molly Munger filed suit late Friday in her latest bid to bolster her zombie income tax hike for nearly initiative on the November ballot. Her aim? She’s trying to block the legislature’s move placing Brown’s revenue initiative at the top of the ballot.
She got a temporary restraining order from a local judge to stop the secretary of state from immediately going to the printer with numbered designations for the November ballot measures while the judge researches the case. But Brown, the former attorney general, and others seem confident in their legal position.
Munger has spent many millions on her pet scheme to solve educational woes while doing little for the overall budget crisis. This effort includes flights of TV ads which fell predictably flat.
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
Dr. Mohamed Morsi, who earned his doctorate in engineering at USC, has been sworn in by Egypt’s highest court as the country’s first freely elected president, succeeding Hosni Mubarak who was toppled 16 months ago. The Muslim Brotherhood candidate took the oath on Saturday before the Supreme Constitutional Court in their courthouse near the Nile River built to resemble an ancient Egyptian temple.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $84.45 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $50 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $30 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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After touring wildfire damage in Colorado Springs, President Barack Obama says that the devastation from the fires is enormous, but added that they are starting to see progress. This is a “super-fire” driven by the buildup of foliage and by increasing climate change making that foliage very dry and flammable.
** QUICK HITS. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met today in St. Petersburg with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss Syria and Iran in advance of this weekend’s conference in Geneva on the Syrian crisis. The joint UN/Arab League negotiator, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, wants the conference to agree on a transitional Syrian government, something Russia, longtime ally of the Assad regime, has balked at. But both Clinton and Lavrov said after their discussions that the US and Russian positions are moving closer together. There is heavy fighting again in the suburbs of Damascus. … Not surprisingly, the major state that is best prepared for the new national health care law is California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made its implementation a top priority, and Governor Jerry Brown followed in his stead. … Brown is dispatching units of the California Air National Guard to Colorado to aid in fighting the Colorado Springs super-fire. Two C-130s with modular firefighting systems and 30 crew members will fly to Colorado early Saturday morning. All costs will be reimbursed by the federal government.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … DARK KNIGHTS, AVENGERS, BONDING RETRO ACTION HEROES: SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** NEW POLL: SPLIT DECISION ON HEALTH CARE RULING. Reflecting the decidedly mixed view that Americans have of President Barack Obama’s national health care program — surprisingly upheld by yesterday’s US Supreme Court decision — a new Gallup Poll reveals the electorate split right down the middle on its view of the ruling.
It’s 46-46, with Democrats strongly in favor and Republicans even more strongly opposed.
Independents back the decision very narrowly, 45-42.
Which is very important for Obama, in that if he holds on to independents overall he will be re-elected, and independents have at times been sharply opposed to “Obamacare.”
After the court announced its decision Thursday, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney immediately vowed he would begin repealing “Obamacare” on day one of his presidency. His reaction and that of other Republicans suggests that the battle over U.S. healthcare reform isn’t over, but is likely to move back to Capitol Hill — or the White House, should Romney be elected.
When asked what they want Congress to do now that the high court has upheld the 2010 law, 31% say they would repeal the law entirely and 21% would keep the law in place but repeal parts of it. A quarter of Americans swing in the other direction, saying they would like Congress to pass legislation to expand the government’s role in healthcare beyond what the current law does. Thirteen percent want to keep the law in place and do nothing further. …
Stock markets made gains around the world Friday after the latest European summit agreed on more substantive moves to resolve the continent’s debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was left defending concessions she made as part of the deal.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … DARK KNIGHTS, AVENGERS, BONDING RETRO ACTION HEROES: SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Colorado.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama then departed the White House on Marine One for Joint Base Andrews, where he boarded Air Force One and flew to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Following his arrival in Colorado Spring, Obama toured the largest fire in Colorado state history and met with victims of the conflagration.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama departs Colorado Springs, Colorado en route to Joint Base Andrews.
At 4:50 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.
At 5:05 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Chief Justice John Roberts’s decision to join more liberal members of the Supreme Court in narrowly upholding the Obama health care law would tee up things rather nicely for a Republican presidential nominee to campaign against the law, which is still widely misunderstood at best. But for two things, that is.
First, Roberts is a pretty conservative Republican. (Which is why the more baroque explanation could work.)
Second, Mitt Romney, who championed the very thing which is most unpopular in the law, is the Republican candidate. (Roberts must understand that Romney is wildly vulnerable on the issue as a result, thus taking away from the baroque explanation for his action.)
Syrian rebel forces have increased their captures of Assad regime soldiers. The UN holds a peace conference on Syria this coming weekend in Geneva.
The US on Thursday granted China and Singapore exemptions from sanctions now going into effect against banks handling Iranian oil transactions.
China has cut its imports of Iranian oil, and the US, moving to beef up its presence in the Pacific, isn’t looking to ratchet up confrontation now.
As for Singapore, which also has cut Iranian oil, down the line the city-state will host a squadron of US Navy ships as part of the Pacific Pivot I’m writing about.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Heiress Molly Munger filed suit late yesterday in her latest bid to bolster her zombie income tax hike for nearly initiative on the November ballot.
Her aim? She’s trying to block the legislature’s move placing Brown’s revenue initiative at the top of the ballot.
Munger has spent many millions on her pet scheme to solve educational woes while doing little for the overall budget crisis, including flights of TV ads which fell predictably flat.
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $85 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $51 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $31 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
A raging “super-fire,” something that will be more common as climate change continues, threatens Colorado Springs and the U.S. Air Force Academy. This is already the worst fire in the history of Colorado. President Barack Obama will visit the area on Friday.
** QUICK HITS.Chief Justice John Roberts’s decision to join more liberal members of the Supreme Court in narrowly upholding the Obama health care law would tee up things rather nicely for a Republican presidential nominee to campaign against the law, which is still widely misunderstood at best. But for two things, that is. First, Roberts is a pretty conservative Republican. (Which is why the more baroque explanation could work.) Second, Mitt Romney, who championed the very thing which is most unpopular in the law, is the Republican candidate. (Roberts must understand that Romney is wildly vulnerable on the issue as a result, thus taking away from the baroque explanation for his action.) … The US today granted China and Singapore exemptions from sanctions now going into effect against banks handling Iranian oil transactions. China has cut its imports of Iranian oil, and the US, moving to beef up its presence in the Pacific, isn’t looking to ratchet up confrontation now. As for Singapore, which also has cut Iranian oil, down the line the city-state will host a squadron of US Navy ships as part of the Pacific Pivot I’m writing about. More to follow on that. … Heiress Molly Munger, who persists in pushing her zombie California initiative to raise income taxes for nearly all to fund the schools, pulled out of her planned speech to the Capitol Press Club in July. Why? So she can spend more time working on the campaign. Which is another way of saying she doesn’t want to answer questions. Not that it particularly matters. …
** THE “MOMENTARY MEDIA” STRIKES: EPIC FAILS BY CNN AND FOX NEWS HIGHLIGHT DYSFUNCTIONALITY. The networked personal computer and the culture and tech which flows from it give us tremendous capabilities for inquiry and communication. It all provides us the opportunity to find things out and get them right, much faster than before the tech existed.
But somewhere along the way, for too many information producers and information consumers at least, an ethic of fastest and simple displaced that of faster and smart. Instead of writing, there is tweeting. Instead of analyzing, there is reflexive spinning. Instead of contemplating, there is churning. It’s certainly easier.
It’s also shallow, frequently stupid, and sometimes wildly wrong.
Like, say, today, with both CNN and Fox News blowing the breaking report of the Supreme Court decision on President Barack Obama’s national health care law.
Even Obama, watching the “news” coverage on split screens in the White House, believed for a few minutes that his signature law had been struck down.
Which is ironic, since the O Team appears to have a rather thinly veiled contempt for much of the current media culture. (Which dates back to 2007 and 2008.)
Folks at a once great news channel (that would be CNN) and a disastrously popular news channel (that would be Fox News) failed to understand what they were reading but reported it anyway. All around the world.
What a spectacular indictment of what I think of as the “Momentary Media,” which has sold much of America on a diet of Fast Food News and fostered a snarkoleptic media culture.
How did CNN and Fox blow it in such epic fashion? They may have some spin, but I suspect they screwed the pooch because they reported what they expected. And what they expected was the congealed conventional wisdom.
I expected it, too, but I would have bothered to read through the decision to see what it actually was before bleating and tweeting.
The conventional wisdom, which I paid a lot of attention to since health policy is decidedly not my field, had the Court overturning the law, throwing out the mandate, which lies at the core of the “Obamacare” program, just as it did with “Romneycare” in Massachusetts.
The two big cable “news” outlets were so intent on being fast that they were totally wrong. The reporters, producers, on-air “talent,” nobody could be bothered to actually read through the decision before broadcasting their stupidity to the world.
What an indictment of a dysfunctional media culture.
There is living in history, which is what we ultimately must do. And there is living in the momentary, experiencing time as a series of moments, describing it moment by moment, without context or understanding. Without narrative.
Which is a perfect way to get things wrong.
These are dark and serious times, with far more complex challenges than the ability to read a single document.
A still very uncertain recovery from economic and financial meltdown, a struggle over the nature of democracy marked by the expansion of money politics, unprecedented environmental/climate challenges, a big geopolitical pivot from over-engagement with Islam to increased engagement with Asia while still deeply entangled in war and potential war.
These are challenges that require sophistication and savvy, both to grasp and to explain. Especially so since there are major crosscuts between these issues.
Media that can’t report a simple court decision properly is hopelessly over its head in grasping and explaining these challenges.
We’re about to celebrate the 236th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, in which the founders of this republic, led by such Enlightenment intellects as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, rejected feudalism, royalism, superstition, and religious prophecy in favor of applying the reason of science to society.
Just imagine what they could do with the tools for knowledge that we have.
President Barack Obama said this morning that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold his health care overhaul is a “victory for people all over the country” and will make their lives more secure.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … DARK KNIGHTS, AVENGERS, BONDING RETRO ACTION HEROES: SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Maryland.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama then delivered a statement in the East Room on the US Supreme Court ruling upholding his national health care bill.
Obama and Biden then met for lunch in the Private Dining Room.
At 10:35 PM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to Bethesda, Maryland.
At 10:45 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Bethesda, Maryland.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama visits the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. He will meet and visit with wounded veterans of the Ira War, the Afghan War, and various special operations.
At 1:40 PM Pacific, Obama departs Bethesda, Maryland on Marine One en route to the White House.
At 1:50 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
At 2 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in the Oval Office.
The White House got a mostly pleasant surprise early this morning when the US Supreme Court upheld Obama’s controversial signature national health care legislation.
The vote was 5-4, with conservative Chief Justice John Roberts joining the Court’s four liberals and moderates to uphold the law, including the very controversial mandate requiring that all Americans who are able purchase health insurance. If they don’t, they are due to pay big fines to the government.
Which would give the Republicans a big and possibly very effective talking point against the law.
Except for this inconvenient truth. GOP presumptive nominee Mitt Romney did the same thing as governor of Massachusetts.
So he can pretend he’s not flip flopping once again as he tries to make the case against something he once counted as his biggest accomplishment in public life.
I expected the Court to throw out the mandate, which lies at the core of the Obamacare program, just as it did with Romneycare in Massachusetts. But I pointed out that either way would make this very dicey once again for the conservative Republican challenger.
The conventional wisdom, which I paid a lot of attention to since health policy is decidedly not my field, had the Court overturning the law.
The two big cable “news” outlets were so intent on being fast that they were totally wrong. They couldn’t be bothered to actually read through the decision.
What an indictment of the dysfuntional media culture.
Interestingly enough, longtime Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, who taught both Obama and Roberts, said beforehand that he thought Roberts would uphold the law. Which I saw but wondered if it was wishful thinking from the liberal professor.
Wishful or not, Tribe was right.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking yesterday in Helsinki, hailed early actions by Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Morsi, the USC-educated former Cal State University engineering professor.
She particularly likes the Muslim Brotherhood leader’s pledge to honor Egypt’s treaties, which includes a peace treaty with Israel.
There was a false report early in the week, from the Iranian Fars news agency, naturally seized on by the far right mediasphere, that Morsi had called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to offer his support for Iran’s radical anti-Israel agenda.
The media has gone pretty nuts in this country.
In the face of the ongoing violence in Syria, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy, is pushing yet another plan to try to end the fighting. A UN conference this weekend in Geneva is expected to discuss a proposal for a unity government. But Russia says the meeting aims to set conditions for a ceasefire in Syria, and not dictate terms of a transitional government.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** THE “SLOW BORING OF HARD BOARDS” IN AN ERA OF LIMITS.
“We are entering an era of limits. In place of a manifest economic destiny, we face a sober reassessment of new economic realities, and we all have to get used to it.
“We can’t just ignore the demands of social and economic justice or the fragile environment on which we all depend. But in meeting our responsibility, we are now forced to make difficult choices.
“Freeways, child care, schools, income assistance, pensions, health programs, prisons, environmental protection — all must compete with one another and be subject to the careful scrutiny of the common purpose we all serve.
“It is a relentless test, one which the growing number of former democracies throughout the world have found they could not meet.”
Governor Jerry Brown, 1976
“Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It requires passion as well as perspective.”
Sociologist Max Weber, 1919
The “hard board” of California politics, boring though it may be at times, is getting bored. This month has brought some more progress on the chronic state budget crisis, the beginning of some results for reform efforts, and, as the state Republican Party continues its devolution, telling early returns on the appeal of independents.
Governor Jerry Brown’s budget compromise with Democratic legislative leaders has been adopted.
Brown insisted that California’s welfare system become more like that advocated by his old campaign rival, former President Bill Clinton.
He moved Democratic legislative leaders further along in wringing more long-term savings from the chronically unbalanced state budget. The deal requires federal work requirements being met after two years, with only limited exemptions, reduces child care funding, and stops cost of living increases starting next year. It will also move nearly 900,000 children to Medi-Cal from the more expensive Healthy Families program.
These are not exactly accomplishments for which it is appropriate to sing songs of praise, but do provide some needed savings for the budget and political bona fides for Democrats needing to pass their November revenue initiative. With the budget and its trailer bills handed off to Brown, there is also the need for major some action on public pension reform, and the start of construction of high-speed rail is a decision that looms.
Brown is also moving successfully to cut employment costs by 5 percent. After balking at his initial plan for a shorter work week, employee bargaining units are coming around to furloughs. Which, ironically, they hated when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger imposed them.
Meanwhile, the big water bond passed at the tail end of Schwarzenegger’s administration, the first big water legislation passed in decades, is still set for the November ballot, a problematic situation in this very challenging fiscal environment if it is not moved and/or substantially altered, especially with no sense of a drought.
Brown last week dropped his current move to block conservative attempts to use the California Environmental Quality Act to block and/or delay construction of the project. Too many environmental groups whose support is necessary to move the bullet train construction authorization — funds are already at hand for the first phase from the federal government and approved bonds — through the legislature were balking at any change in the law, fearing that a one change for a green project could lead to other changes for other projects. Notice that I said he dropped his current move.
The state’s new open primary system, adopted after the passage of a 2010 initiative championed by Schwarzenegger, was coupled this year with the new districts drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission, also championed by Schwarzenegger in a 2008 initiative.
Former Democratic legislator and state finance director Steve Peace, a longtime champion of open primaries, worked with a bipartisan crew of strategists to aid in the initiative’s passage. Democratic strategist David Townsend, a Brown adviser, former Schwarzenegger media consultant Don Sipple, who also advised Brown in his 2010 bid, Schwarzenegger re-election campaign manager and McCain for President director Steve Schmidt, and one-time chief of staff to Republican Governor George Deukmejian Steve Merksamer joined with longtime Schwarzenegger consultant Adam Mendelsohn and others to ensure the measure’s passage in 2010.
Today Townsend calls the early outcome a success. It’s not a panacea, he says, but “it’s already making a real impact.”
Like another key Brown backer, former Democratic legislator and state parks director Rusty Areias, Townsend saw advances for more moderate Democrats. There were also fewer Republican candidates signing on to the mindlessly reflexive no-tax pledge pushed for years by Washington Beltway lobbyist Grover Norquist.
A report by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), surveying the district outcomes so far, concluded that “The new districts have disrupted established incumbents, while the top two primary has altered traditional patterns of competition. The reforms led to closer outcomes.”
The open primary and the end of the legislature’s gerrymandering of districts is now joined by another reform, albeit on the margins. That’s the term limits revision, which passed easily, 61-39, with the undecided breaking heavily in its favor. …
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown signed the main state budget bill last night after the various “trailer bills” (merely necessary to have an actual budget) were passed yesterday.
He also issued nearly $200 million in line item vetoes, building the state budget reserve back up close to his preferred $1 billion level.
The legislature at one point proposed to go without a budget reserve.
Brown put out a statement last night, which reads in part:
“This budget reflects tough choices that will help get California back on track,” said Governor Brown. “I commend the Legislature for making difficult decisions, especially enacting welfare reform and across-the-board pay cuts. All this lays the foundation for job growth and continuing economic expansion.”
The budget assumes voter approval of the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act, an initiative placed by Governor Brown on the November ballot.
The initiative will enact temporary increases on high-income earners, raising income taxes by up to three percent on the wealthiest Californians for seven years. It would also increase the state sales tax by one-quarter of one cent for four years. Six billion dollars in additional cuts to education and public safety will be triggered if the initiative fails.
“My revenue proposal is fair and temporary,” said Governor Brown. “Our state budget problem was built up over a decade, and it won’t be fixed overnight. These temporary increases will ensure funding for our schools until the economy improves.”
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $78 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $44 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $36 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Mitt Romney, neglecting all the similarities with his own health care law, lashed out at President Barack Obama today, bashing the president’s health care overhaul during a campaign stop in Sterling, Virginia.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … THE “SLOW BORING OF HARD BOARDS” IN AN ERA OF LIMITS and SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** QUICK HITS.All quiet on the White House front as the US Supreme Court’s decision on the national health care program looms. Meanwhile, the unconsciously facetious Mitt Romney blasted President Barack Obama for a plan largely inspired by Romney’s own Massachusetts program. … Secretary of StateHillary Clinton today, speaking in Helsinki, hailed early actions by Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Morsi, the USC-educated former Cal State University engineering professor. She particularly likes the Muslim Brotherhood leader’s pledge to honor Egypt’s treaties, which includes a peace treaty with Israel. … California’s budget “trailer bills” passed today in the state legislature, with the compromise plan worked out by Governor Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders essentially intact. … Amusingly, legislative Republicans balked at shifting kids out of the Health Families program to the cheaper alternative of Medi-Cal. I guess they are still for reforms instead of cuts. …
** NEW POLL: CONFIDENCE IN BANKS AT RECORD LOW. A new Gallup Poll survey contains bad political news for the financial sector. Confidence in US banks is now at a record low, shading the previous record low reached in 2009 as denial of the great global recession ended and realization set in.
Throughout much of 2008, politicians and pundits on the starboard side of the spectrum repeatedly denied that the economy was in recession, though it clearly was.
Only Congress and health maintenance organizations rank below the banking sector in public confidence.
The banks are now tied with TV news, big business, and organized labor as the third least respected institutions in America.
What’s at the top of the heap in public confidence and respect?
The US military, of course, by a huge margin.
Americans’ confidence in U.S. banks is now at a record-low 21%, down slightly from 23% in the past two years and one percentage point below the 22% found in 2009. The percentage of Americans saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in U.S. banks is now about half the pre-recession level of 41%, recorded in June 2007. …
Gallup since 1973 has asked Americans to say how much confidence they have in a variety of U.S. institutions, including annually since 1993. Confidence in banks is higher than only two of the other institutions tested in this year’s poll — Congress (13%) and Health Maintenance Organizations (19%). Tied with banks are television news, organized labor, and big business — all at 21% and third from the bottom out of the 16 U.S. institutions rated. …
The UN Human Rights Council has released its report on last month’s massacre in the central Syria town of Houla. It says it was unlikely that opposition fighters were behind the deaths. 108 people were killed in the attack, most of them women and children. The report also warns of worsening violence across Syria, and says the violence is taking on a more sectarian character. The UN will host a conference on the Syrian crisis Saturday in Geneva, but Iran will be excluded at American request and Saudi Arabia at Russian request, making it all still more problematic.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … THE “SLOW BORING OF HARD BOARDS” IN AN ERA OF LIMITS and SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** OBAMA TODAY. After two days of campaigning across the country, President Barack Obama is in Washington.
He received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama then met for lunch with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed in the Private Dining Room.
At 12 noon Pacific, Obama attends a fundraiser at the Jefferson Hotel.
At 4 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a picnic for Members of Congress on the South Lawn.
The White House awaits a likely US Supreme Court decision Thursday on the national health care law enacted early in Obama’s first term.
Obama has no scheduled public events on Thursday and Friday, allowing ample opportunity to pivot on the decision, whichever way it goes.
I expect the Court to throw out the mandate, which lies at the core of the Obamacare program, just as it did with Romneycare in Massachusetts.
Which would make this very dicey once again for the conservative Republican challenger.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, and AfPak.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
In opting to become the nation’s largest city to seek federal bankruptcy protection, Stockton, California — a Central Valley city of 300,000, making it California’s 13th largest — took a rare financial step of last resort after struggling with the economic downturn, soaring pension costs and contractual obligations. The city made big ongoing financial commitments based an ever-rising housing market that crashed.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
California legislative committees took budget action on “trailer bills” (merely necessary to have an actual budget) late on Tuesday.
Legislative floor votes on the state budget are taking place today.
California Forward’s initiative for various would-be governmental reforms, mostly procedural but not uncontroversial, has qualified for the November ballot, on which it is likely to be near the top beneath Governor Jerry Brown’s revenue initiative. (Which will move up by legislative action, as it is a constitutional amendment, like the CalForward package.)
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $80 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $46 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $34 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama pledged today to bring back jobs that have moved overseas and portrayed his challenger as the type of wealthy investor who would pollute, outsource jobs, and take down unions in order to maximize profits.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … THE “SLOW BORING OF HARD BOARDS” IN AN ERA OF LIMITS and SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** QUICK HITS.California legislative committees are set for budget action on “trailer bills” (merely necessary to have an actual budget) later today and this evening, with floor votes anticipated on Wednesday. … California Forward’s initiative for various would-be governmental reforms, mostly procedural but not uncontroversial, has qualified for the November ballot, on which it is likely to be near the top beneath Governor Jerry Brown’s revenue initiative. (Which will move up by legislative action, as it is a constitutional amendment, like the CalForward package.) … The US Supreme Court decision on the national health care law, as you may have heard if you watch cable noise, er, news, looks set for Thursday. What does not look all that set is the outcome. My guess, and it’s only that as this is not my area, is that the core of it, i.e., the mandate, goes down. …
** NEW POLL: LATINO VOTERS FAVOR ACTIVIST GOVERNMENT, FAR MORE THAN MOST OTHER VOTERS.A new Gallup Poll survey reveals another big reason why Republicans have very deep problems with the big emerging Latino constituency, beyond reactions to immigration, legal and other wise.
Latino voters are far more in favor of an activist role for government than are others.
The Republican hope, such as it is, lies in the split between Latinos favoring and opposing the promotion of more traditional values.
The majority (56%) of Hispanic registered voters in the U.S. believe the government should “do more to solve our country’s problems.” This is more than the 37% of all American registered voters who say the same. Hispanic voters born outside the U.S. are even more likely to favor government intervention than those born in the U.S. …
Hispanic voters who were not born in the U.S. differ most from the views of all Americans. Hispanic voters not born in this country tilt by 61% to 22% toward the view that government should be more involved in solving problems, with almost one in five not having an opinion either way. Hispanic voters who were U.S.-born are more evenly split, with 54% saying government should do more and 41% saying the government is doing too much.
Although they believe that government should do more to solve problems, Hispanic voters are divided about whether the government should (48%) or should not (46%) promote traditional values in U.S. society. Hispanic voters who were not born in this country are the most likely to want the government to promote traditional values — whereas those born in the U.S. express views similar to those the rest of Americans hold. …
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … THE “SLOW BORING OF HARD BOARDS” IN AN ERA OF LIMITS and SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Massachusetts, Georgia, Florida, and Washington, DC.
Obama departed Boston early this morning on Air Force One en route to Atlanta.
After arriving in Atlanta, Obama delivered remarks at a campaign event at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel before attending a smaller fundraiser there.
Turkey warned Tuesday that any Syrian military unit approaching its border will be treated as a direct threat, a serious escalation in tensions days after Syria downed a Turkish F-4 Phantom jet.
At 12:35 PM Pacific, Obama departs Atlanta, Georgia on Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida.
At 2:10 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Miami.
At 2:45 PM Pacific, Obama attends a fundraiser at a private residence.
At 5:30 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a campaign fundraiser at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.
At 6:45 PM Pacific, Obama departs Miami on Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews.
At 8:55 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.
At 9:10 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Iraq, AfPak, and North Korea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
His budget compromise is on track for Wednesday votes in the state legislature.
Brown is insisting that California’s welfare system become more like that advocated by his old campaign rival former President Bill Clinton.
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
Dr. Mohammed Morsi, a USC alumnus and former Cal State Northridge assistant engineering professor, is the new president of Egypt. Er, fight on!
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $79 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $45 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $35 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Syria’s shoot-down of a Turkish F-4 Phantom fighter jet, once an interceptor and fighter-bomber when it was new in the ’60s and ’70s and now used for training, surveillance, and reconnaisance, may escalate what is already a dangerous situation. Turkey is a NATO member, part of the collective security agreement with Western Europe and the US, making this even more complex if the pact is invoked.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … CALIFORNIA STORY: “THE SLOW BORING OF HARD BOARDS” IN AN ERA OF LIMITS and SUPERHEROES AND A BIG YEAR OF ACTION CINEMA.
** OBAMA THIS WEEKEND. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
He has received the regular intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama has no scheduled public events on the weekend.
Here’s what his schedule looks like for the week ahead.
On Monday, Obama will travel to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Boston, Massachusetts where he will attend campaign events. Obama will RON in Boston.
On Tuesday, Obama will travel to Atlanta, Georgia and Miami, Florida to attend campaign events. Obama returns to the White House in the evening.
On Wednesday, Obama will meet with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed to discuss various security, economic, energy, and environmental issues. The crown prince, who is Obama’s age, holds a host of top posts in the United Arab Emirates, a principal Gulf Arab power, including his roles as deputy commander of the military and special advisor to the his brother the president. The UAE and other Gulf Arab powers are increasingly key US allies. That evening, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a picnic for Members of Congress at the White House.
On Thursday and Friday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
As usual, there is plenty of flexibility in the schedule for response to emerging events, and as usual Obama’s public schedule bears little reflection of his crisis management activities.
While Obama passes a deceptively quiet weekend in the White House — where in reality he is monitoring and to some degree managing activities around the delayed Egyptian presidential vote announcement and the Syria crisis, which may have entered a dangerous new phase — conservative Republican challenger Mitt Romney is holding a Conservapalooza for his super-rich backers in picturesque Park City, Utah.
The 2002 Winter Olympics, which Romney ran, were in large part staged there.
In sharp contrast to Obama, Romney refuses to release the names of his top fundraisers or to reveal his fundraising events. But this article begins to poke behind the veil.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses the urgent need for Congress pass his “To Do List.” That’s a little joke. Actually, he does not. Obama, acknowledging the painfully slow economic recovery, urges to act now on two common sense measures to help middle class Americans: Preventing interest rates on federal student loans from going up and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back to work on needed infrastructure projects.
Romney is still trying to deal with a detailed Washington Post report on how he and Bain Capital profited greatly by promoting outsourcing and offshoring of jobs in the portfolio of companies they backed.
Bain Capital, not surprisingly, was a king of the outsourcing trend.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, by the way, is in Latin America for more solidarity meetings with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who vows support for Iran against the West, and Chavez allies in the region.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Iraq, AfPak, and North Korea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events this weekend.
His budget compromise is on track for Tuesday votes in the state legislature.
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $79.76 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $46 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $34 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Egyptians are back on the streets of Cairo. Revolutionary groups and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood seem to be united in their call for civilian rule. They want the parliament reinstated and the ruling military council to hand over power to the new president, with no further delays in the official vote count.
** A RUGGED TIME FOR OBAMA’S BIG GEOPOLITICAL PIVOT.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in again.”
-Michael Corleone, The Godfather, Part III
America under Barack Obama has begun the big geopolitical pivot from its fateful over-engagement with the Islamic world of the Middle East and Central Asia to greater engagement with Asia and the Pacific. But this week showed that the transition is going to be anything but smooth.
Obama is trying to wind down the Afghan War after unwisely winding it up in 2009. Rival Mitt Romney wants to stick around. But we’re going to be disengaging, one way or the other, either with a certain degree of decorum or on the run, as events this week made plain, yet again.
While the Pakistan part of our flailing AfPak strategy accelerated its devolution, matters in the Middle East deteriorated further. The Egyptian revolution that so excited humanists in America and the West has been overwhelmed by counter-revolution, while Syria slid further from ceasefire into chaos and the Iranian nuclear crisis worsened.
Pakistan, that supposed lynchpin of U.S. strategy in the Afghan War when Obama escalated it in 2009, becomes still more problematic.
Pakistan was thrown into a new political crisis after the country’s supreme court pushed the prime minister, who has clashed sharply with the military, out of his job. Three judges disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was jailed for corruption during the Musharraf regime, from holding office and ordered the president to choose a new prime minister. The court ruled Gilani could not continue, after he was found guilty of contempt in April.
Then the nominee to replace Gilani as prime minister, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, who has held several cabinet portfolios, suddenly became the subject of an arrest warrant. The judge on Thursday cited Makhdoom Shahabuddin’s alleged role in a scandal involving the import of a drug that can be used to make methamphetamine. Finally, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the former water and power minister and a longtime ally of President Asif Ali Zardari, was confirmed Friday by parliament as the new prime minister.
U.S.-Pakistani relations, which dropped to a new low after the Osama bin Laden raid, really plummeted in November after U.S. helicopters killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at an outpost on the Afghan border. The big Afghan War supply route through Pakistan was closed and remains closed.
Putting things in perspective, the prime minister forced from office this week was relatively pro-U.S.
There were reports early in the week that former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak had died. But that turned out not to be accurate. His heart apparently stopped, but was revived. He remains in grave condition.
As does the state of Egypt’s nascent democracy.
Dr. Mohamed Morsi, an alumnus of the University of Southern California and candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, has claimed victory in last weekend’s presidential run-off election over retired Air Force General Ahmed Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, and news reports have validated the former California State University engineering professor’s claim.
But between the country’s Supreme Court, dominated by Mubarak appointees, and the ruling “interim” military council, the first democratically elected national parliament in decades has been dismissed and most all major decision-making power pertaining to fiscal matters, defense, and the development of a new constitution has been moved away from the presidency to the military council.
The official vote count was due on Thursday. Now the official vote won’t be released until this coming Sunday, if then.
Syria is an even bigger shambles.
The UN has halted its peacekeeping mission in Syria. Things simply became far too violent during the ceasefire, with the lives of the UN monitors under threat along with everyone else in rebellious areas.
Then there is the big wild card, Iran. And Israel’s reaction to Iran. …
So, does all this stop Obama from his planned geopolitical pivot? Will he, and we, be dragged back into the pit of the past decade’s mostly disastrous involvements, i.e., Iraq War, Afghan War, much too heavy bootprint in the Islamic world?
What’s particularly interesting in looking at this arc of crisis in the Middle East and Central Asia is, frankly, how little we can do about it. Which means that the answer, despite all the shouting and the usual nasty back and forth that transfixes the media culture so as it animates our dysfunctional political culture, is largely no.
Whether Romney and other reflexive warhawks like it or not, we are not going to win the Afghan War. The allies are heading for the exits and America has turned against it. We’re not going to be big shot callers in Pakistan, either. …
That’s the big wild card with regard to the big geopolitical pivot. The rise of China as a nascent superpower, and the rise of Asia as a whole, including Iran, shifts the world’s economic and political center of gravity such that the pivot makes more than enough sense, whether the Democrats or Republicans are in power.
In fact, I think the pivot to the Pacific would already have occurred had not taken place. After all, the first major geopolitical crisis of the Bush/Cheney administration took place there. …
** NEW POLL: LOSING THAT RELIGION — MOST CAN’T NAME OBAMA’S. A new Gallup Poll has some alarming news for President Barack Obama.
Most can’t correctly name him as a Christian.
Little more than a third get that right, despite the fact that his religious orientation has been bandied about for years, from his controversial Christian pastor Jeremiah Wright to the spurious charge that he is a secret Muslim.
Yes, the profusion of new media platforms is truly leading to a renaissance in knowledge in America.
Just 34% of Americans correctly say U.S. President Barack Obama is a Christian, while 44% say they don’t know Obama’s religion and 11% say he is a Muslim. …
Obama is a Christian and has labeled himself as such as in his writings and interviews, and while living in Chicago he attended the Trinity United Church of Christ. Since moving into the White House, Obama has attended several different Christian churches.
Americans are indeed more likely to say Obama is a Christian — mostly a generic “Christian” or “Protestant” — than to say he identifies with any other religion. In addition to those who name a specific religion or don’t offer a guess, 8% say he does not have a religious affiliation.
Americans are more likely to know Mitt Romney’s religion than Obama’s religion, with most Americans correctly saying Romney is a Mormon and a smaller 33% saying they don’t know. …
President Barack Obama, speaking at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference at Disney World in Florida, said he would not back down on pursuing immigration reform.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … A RUGGED TIME FOR OBAMA’S BIG GEOPOLITICAL PIVOT.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Florida.
Obama received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
He then flew on Air Force One to Orlando, Florida, where he delivered remarks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ Annual Conference at Walt Disney World Resort.
Following that, he flew to Tampa, Florida.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa.
At 3:35 PM Pacific, Obama departs Tampa on Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews.
At 5:30 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.
At 5:45 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Iraq, AfPak, and North Korea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
At 3 PM, Brown will attend the launch of the Tesla Motors Model S at the Tesla factory in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Fremont.
Tesla already has the successful halo product in the form of its famed electric sports car. The Model S is the sedan for more general use.
The tobacco tax initiative on the June primary ballot went down to defeat in the final count, as I expected.
But it was somewhat closer than expected, losing by only 28,000 votes.
The measure, which would have tacked another dollar a pack on cigarettes to generate cancer research funds, a not exactly unknown field of endeavour, saw its goo-goo appeal run down by a $50 million advertising campaign by the obviously self-interested tobacco companies.
Yet, even though it was contending with a conservative-skewing low-turnout primary electorate with a policy idea I thought was played out, it nearly won anyway.
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
World leaders are scarce on the ground, but some say the agreement likely to come out of the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro is relatively unambitious, while poorer nations say it is a result of richer nations having a lack of commitment to the environment. Protesters outside the summit have been adding their voices to the criticism, as disappointment turns to anger. Tens of thousands of people have shown up in the Brazilian city, many of whom say what is happening on the sidelines of the gathering is what is really important.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $80 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $46 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $34 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Backpedaling from his harsh rhetoric, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney outlined plans to overhaul the green card system for immigrants with families and end immigration caps for their spouses and minor children. But Romney, speaking at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference at Disney World in Florida, still didn’t state a position on President Barack Obama’s move stopping deportation of underage illegal immigrants.
** FAILURE(S) TO COMMUNICATE. While there seems to be a California budget deal, which will take its actual public revealing and legislative passage, not to mention the passage of some time for assessment, to get a full handle on it, other negotiations this week are coming up decidedly short.
Governor Jerry Brown appears to have moved Democratic legislative leaders further along in wringing more long-term savings from the chronically unbalanced state budget. State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg told Capitol reporters on hand that the deal requires federal work requirements being met after two years, reduces child care funding, and stops cost of living increases starting next year. It will also move nearly 900,000 children to Medi-Cal from the more expensive Healthy Families program.
These are not exactly accomplishments for which it is appropriate to sing songs of praise, but do provide some needed savings and political bona fides for Democrats needing to pass a tax hike. Public pension reform is coming up, as is approval of the start of construction of high-speed rail. And the big water program bond passed at the tail end of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration is still set for the November ballot, a problematic situation in this very challenging environment if it is not moved and/or substantially altered.
So, in California at least, for once, some progress in negotiation, in communication, albeit on matters that should be fairly straightforward.
Elsewhere, not so much.
For example, the aforementioned Schwarzenegger isn’t going to Rio this week for the UN’s big conference on sustainable development, the 20th anniversary event of the Earth Summit held there in 1992. Nor is Brown, for that matter, whose participation in the first Earth Summit I discussed in “Jerry Brown for President + 20,” linked below. With the global economy in turmoil, the turnout of international leaders for what was to have been the key Rio event is turning out to be low. So Schwarzenegger, a UN renewable energy advocate (who wrapped his third movie since leaving the governorship just last week), and his R20 organization will be represented there instead by former California Environmental Protection Secretary Terry Tamminen.
In Moscow this week, everyone showed up on Monday and Tuesday for the latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members: US, UK, France, Russia, and China, plus Germany). But as I expected, the talks went nowhere.
Iran is hurting from major sanctions, with more kicking in. But Iran refused attempts to limit its nuclear enrichment activities, and still hasn’t come through on a supposed agreement earlier this spring to allow UN inspectors into facilities from which they have long been blocked.
And the US and its European allies have refused to pull back on sanctions in exchange for any give on the Iranian side.
Which leaves Iran continuing to move forward on its hotly disputed nuclear program and Israel that much closer to being forced to decide whether or not to follow through on its threatened strikes against the Iranian program.
** NEW POLL: THE MORMON FACTOR. A new Gallup Poll has some unsettling news for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
But it could be worse.
Roughly one-fifth of the electorate says it won’t vote for “a generally well-qualified person who happens to be a Mormon” nominated by their party.
And only 57% know that Romney is a Mormon.
And the bigger problem for Romney is that intolerance of the church in which he was a bishop and a missionary in France during the Vietnam War is greatest among lower-educated voters.
But the best educated voters are, as I wrote recently, most in favor of the Enlightenment ethic which Romney has rejected in this campaign.
Eighteen percent of Americans say they would not vote for a well-qualified presidential candidate who happens to be a Mormon, virtually the same as the 17% who held this attitude in 1967. …
The exact percentage of Americans who resist the idea of voting for a Mormon has varied slightly over the eight times Gallup has asked the question, typically when a Mormon was running for president, including George Romney (1968 campaign), Orrin Hatch (2000 campaign), and Mitt Romney (2008 and 2012 campaigns). The percentage opposed to a Mormon president has averaged 19% since 1967 — from a low of 17% at several points to a high of 24% in 2007. The current 18% is down from 22% a year ago.
Gallup originally asked the question in April 1967, after Mitt Romney’s father, Michigan Gov. George Romney, announced the formation of an exploratory committee for the 1968 Republican nomination. At that point, George Romney was one of the two top contenders for the GOP nomination, along with the eventual winner, Richard Nixon.
Now, some 45 years later, George Romney’s son Mitt will be the Republican nominee — and the pattern of resistance to his Mormon religion has essentially not changed. …
President Barack Obama is urging Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling on July 1, calling it a “no-brainer.” If Congress doesn’t act, interest rates on new loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent come July.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
Obama and Biden then met for lunch in the Private Dining Room.
Following that, Obama, speaking in the East Room, delivered remarks continuing to call on Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling on July 1st.
At 12 noon Pacific, Obama meets with John Bryson, who has just resigned as secretary of commerce.
The veteran California utility chief and environmental official, who served as president of the California Public Utilities Commission during Governor Jerry Brown’s first go-round as governor, has resigned after seizures led to a mishap-filled drive recently outside Los Angeles.
The US is planning to extend its military presence in Kuwait. The latest report from Congress said 15,000 US troops are already stationed in the tiny Gulf country and that more troops are need to respond to sudden conflicts in the region. Iran, Iraq and the ability to keep oil flowing from Saudi Arabia are major concerns for the world’s biggest economy.
The state of Egypt’s nascent democracy is increasingly grave, with the ruling military council delaying today’s scheduled release of presidential election results.
News reports indicate that Dr. Mohamed Morsi, an alumnus of the University of Southern California and candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, was the victor in last weekend’s presidential run-off election over retired Air Force General Ahmed Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister.
Now the official vote won’t be released until this coming Sunday, if then.
Even if Morsi is declared the victor, the “interim” ruling military council has already backed steps to retain its own power.
Between the country’s Supreme Court, dominated by Mubarak appointees, and the ruling “interim” military council, the first democratically elected national parliament in decades has been dismissed and most all major decision-making power pertaining to fiscal matters, defense, and the development of a new constitution has been moved away from the presidency to the military council.
Pakistan, that supposed lynchpin of US strategy in the Afghan War when it was escalated in 2009, becomes still more problematic.
Pakistan was thrown into a new political crisis after the country’s supreme court pushed the prime minister, who has clashed sharply with the military, out of his job. Three judges have disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was jailed for corruption during the Mubarak regime, from holding office and ordered the president to choose a new prime minister. The court ruled Gilani could not continue, after he was found guilty of contempt in April.
Now the new nominee to replace Gilani as prime minister is the subject of an arrest warrant.
More chaos in Pakistan. An anti-narcotics court judge in the northern city of Rawalpindi has issued an arrest warrant for the candidate nominated for the prime minister’s post by President Asif Ali Zardari. The judge on Thursday cited Makhdoom Shahabuddin’s alleged role in a scandal involving the import of a drug that can be used to make methamphetamine. Shahabuddin, a member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), filed his nomination papers on Thursday. Two other PPP leaders, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Qamar Zaman Kaira, also filed their nomination papers as alternative candidates.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Iraq, AfPak, and North Korea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events today.
On Friday, he will attend the launch of the Tesla Motors Model S in Fremont. Tesla already has the successful halo product in the form of its electric sports car. The Model S is the sedan for more general use.
With legislative authorization of the commencement of the high speed rail project coming up this summer, Brown late yesterday dropped his current move to block conservative attempts to use the California Environmental Quality Act to block and/or delay construction of the project.
Too many environmental groups whose support is necessary were balking at any change in the law.
Brown announced this morning that there is agreement on the state budget. But the announcement, which you can read for yourself below, is extremely vague about the nature of that agreement.
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today announced an agreement on actions the Legislature will consider next week to finalize the 2012-2013 state budget.
The conceptual agreement protects education, permanently reforms welfare and includes tough ongoing cuts. The Legislature will take final votes on the budget trailer bills in the coming days.
“This agreement strongly positions the state to withstand the economic challenges and uncertainties ahead,” said Governor Brown. “We have restructured and downsized our prison system, moved government closer to the people, made billions in difficult cuts and now the Legislature is poised to make even more difficult cuts and permanently reform welfare.”
“For the second straight year, California will benefit by having a budget in place before the end of the fiscal year,” said Steinberg. “As always, the negotiations were tough, but we move forward together with a state budget that’s structurally balanced, setting us on the path to putting this nagging deficit behind us.”
“We have worked cooperatively and productively with the Governor and our colleagues in the Senate to put forward a budget that reflects the commitment we made in January to eliminate the deficit, protect education and put California’s fiscal house in order by our Constitutional deadline,” said Speaker Pérez. “I am pleased the actions we will take in the coming days will see that important objective realized.”
I expect that Brown has gained ground on tightening down on long-term welfare spending.
Meanwhile, another very prominent California Republican, the highest ranking yet, has left the party to become an independent. That’s former California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, appointed to the office by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. McPherson was a longtime state legislator prior to the Arnold nod. He is running for Santa Cruz County Supervisor, in a race in which he is the frontrunner. More to follow as part of an upcoming piece.
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $79 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $45 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $35 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
The US is planning to extend its military presence in Kuwait. The latest report from Congress said 15,000 US troops are already stationed in the tiny Gulf country and that more troops are need to respond to sudden conflicts in the region. Iran, Iraq and the ability to keep oil flowing from Saudi Arabia are major concerns for the world’s biggest economy.
** QUICK HITS.Another very prominent California Republican, the highest ranking yet, has left the party to become an independent. That’s former California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, appointed to the office by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. McPherson was longtime state legislator prior to the Arnold nod. He is running for Santa Cruz County Supervisor, in a race in which he is the frontrunner. More to follow as part of an upcoming piece. … No agreement yet, but word is that Governor Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders are getting closer on the “trailer bills” needed to implement the California state budget bill rather blithely passed last Friday. Brown is moving to tighten down on long-term welfare spending. …
** THE “FAIR SHOT” VS. THE “TO DO LIST” — A BIG REVEALING BLAH IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE.In the clash of presidential agendas, it’s the challenger’s “Fair Shot” vs. the incumbent’s “To Do List.”
Be still, my heart.
Congress, President Barack Obama has repeatedly intoned, must pass his To Do List of generally popular items for economic revival. Which of course they will not, making it a perfect campaigning situation for him.
If only he didn’t call it a “To Do List,” something with all the pizzazz and compelling descriptive power of the title of a hastily scribbled grocery list.
Obama also has an energy plan, which he cleverly calls the All of the Above Plan. As in renewables and energy efficiency, oh, and oil and gas and coal and nuclear, too.
Now, let’s see. Would that be “D” or “E” on the multiple choice quiz?
To be fair, Obama has an overall theme, which I believe is currently “Forward.” Since who is not for moving forward, but for those inextricably, and inexplicably, drawn to going backward?
Before that, it was something even more forgettable, which I recall being suspiciously like Newt Gingrich’s slogan. Which I now recall was “Winning the Future,” also the title of Gingrich’s 2005 book, laying out his political platform.
Oops.
Recollecting the ex-House speaker-turned-lobbyist, er, enormously paid historian, whose Newtonian motion probably became destined for its current resting state right around the time he portentously declared, “I am the nominee” last December, brings us back to the pallid corporate takeover artist whose unregulated super PAC money and complacent media allies ended the far more flavorful Georgian’s hopes.
Romney, at least, for all his verbal bumblings, has come up with a catch-all phrase for his program more descriptive from the fill-in-the-blank later phrase so unfortunately attached to Obama’s.
Harry Truman had the Fair Deal. Romney offers the Fair Shot. I guess Romney only wants to make deals with his equals. …
** NEW SURVEY: A DOOM AND GLOOM FACTOR ON THE ECONOMY. A recent Gallup Poll survey has some very interesting data.
While the view of the economy on a national, and global basis, is downbeat, half of Americans rate the economy in their neck of the woods as “excellent” or “good.”
That drops to only a quarter of Americans when assessing the national economy.
And only an eighth of Americans when assessing the global economy.
Even more intriguingly, the most negative region of the country in assessing the more local economic environment is the West. Which in terms of absolute numbers if somewhat dominated by California, where the assessment is still bleak.
But California is as safe a bet for Barack Obama as anywhere. In fact, it’s in the bag.
These data, based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted June 11-12, reinforce the general conclusion that Americans are more positive about things at their personal, local level than they are about things “out there” in a broader context.
Significantly more Americans rate economic conditions in their local area as excellent or good than rate them as poor, by a 34-percentage-point margin. Americans remain in positive territory when rating the economy in their state (+15), but shift to a net negative position on the U.S. overall, with poor ratings surpassing excellent/good ratings by five points. Americans’ ratings of the national economy are more positive than what Gallup finds when Americans are asked about the U.S. economy in isolation, suggesting that asking first about local and state conditions prompts a more positive view of the national economy. …
This local positivity bias is not uncommon in surveys, but in this context suggests that the average American is not in as dire straits economically as would be thought based on national economic confidence ratings alone. These data are in line with previous research showing that Americans rate their personal financial situations more positively than they rate the national economic situation.
The fact that Americans believe the U.S. is in better shape than Europe or the rest of the world may provide some comfort to those worried about the impact of a struggling U.S. economy on consumer confidence. Of course, in today’s global economy, no single nation’s economy performs in isolation, but Americans’ more positive views of the U.S. economy may help explain why Americans are not as concerned about the dire economic situation in Europe as some might expect.
A new AP-Gfk poll finds that three-quarters of Americans want Congress and the president to get to work on a new health care law if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down President Barack Obama’s 2010 law as unconstitutional, as many expect.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE “FAIR SHOT” VS. THE “TO DO LIST:” THE BIG REVEALING BLAH OF PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN RHETORIC.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
In his own remarks, Obama emphasized how each region of the world is very dependent on exports to and investments from the European Union.
The Eurozone crisis is again momentarily stable following the Greek elections over the weekend and the Spanish bank bailout last week. But the crisis is not solved.
There were reports late yesterday that former Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak had died. But that turned out not to be accurate.
His heart apparently stopped, but was revived. He remains in grave condition.
As does the state of Egypt’s nascent democracy.
In Egypt, Dr. Mohamed Morsi, an alumnus of the University of Southern California and candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, has claimed victory in the weekend’s presidential run-off election over retired Air Force General Ahmed Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister.
The official vote count is due on Thursday.
But between the country’s Supreme Court, dominated by Mubarak appointees, and the ruling “interim” military council, the first democratically elected national parliament in decades has been dismissed and most all major decision-making power pertaining to fiscal matters, defense, and the development of a new constitution has been moved away from the presidency to the military council.
The predictable failure of the latest round of nuclear talks between Iran and great powers of the West and East, this time in Moscow, is accompanied by recriminations. And promises of more talks next month.
Sanctions spurred by the Obama Administration seem to be having a big impact on Iran, and that impact was furthered by the OPEC meeting in Vienna last week, at which Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE made clear their intention to keep their production up to take up the slack of lost Iranian exports and to keep oil prices significantly lower than Iran needs now.
With the UN peacekeeping mission in Syria over, the ceasefire in shambles, three Russian warships carrying a contingent of Russian Marines are en route to the Russian naval base there.
Pakistan has been thrown into a new political crisis after the country’s supreme court pushed the prime minister, who has clashed sharply with the military, out of his job. Three judges have disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was jailed for corruption during the Mubarak regime, from holding office and ordered the president to choose a new prime minister. The court ruled Gilani could not continue, after he was found guilty of contempt in April.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has found sanctuary in Ecuador’s embassy beyond British extradition to Sweden on somewhat curious sex charges.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Iraq, AfPak, and North Korea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is continuing state budget negotiations even though the June 15th deadline has passed. And even though a budget bill has been adopted and sent to the governor.
There are no new public developments.
Brown attended a fundraiser with Vice President Joe Biden yesterday afternoon in Sacramento and left with state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg, reportedly looking chummy enough. But that doesn’t mean too much.
Here’s the pool report from a Sacramento Bee reporter on the Obama/Biden fundraiser, which was at the venerable 123-year old Sutter Club a few blocks from the Capitol. (The reporter mistook “populous” for “populist,” as you’ll see.)
Biden called Brown “the smartest guy in American politics.”
Vice President Joe Biden arrived before 3 p.m. – a bit earlier than expected – at a fundraiser at the Sutter Club, near the state Capitol in downtown Sacramento.
Pool was ushered into the hall about 3:17 p.m., just in time to hear Gov. Jerry Brown at the podium ahead of Biden. Biden started speaking about three minutes later to a crowd of about 130 people.
“Nothing has changed,” Biden said of Brown, who was governor before from 1975 to 1983. Biden said he met Brown in San Francisco in the 1970s. He said, “He was the smartest guy in American politics then. He’s still the smartest guy in American politics.”
“He speaks his mind,” Biden said, and the crowd laughed when he said, “I like guys like that.”
Biden said the fundamental question of the campaign is, “Are we going to restore the American middle class?”
“It’s a simple proposition: When the middle class does well, the poor have a shot, and the wealthy do very well. When the middle class is not doing well, and atrophies, the poor, they’re in trouble, and only a certain part of the super-wealthy do very well.”
Biden said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m all for people being wealthy. It’s a good thing; it’s not a bad thing. I come from the state of Delaware, one of the wealthiest states in America, and I have never played this populous card because I don’t believe it. Wealthy people are just as patriotic as poor people. But the truth is it doesn’t trickle down.”
Biden said on environmental policies that Mitt Romney is “an anathema to things that the Republican Party used to stand for.”
Talking about the slumping economy, he said, “We believe that the way to deal with this God awful recession we’ve inherited is that everyone is in on the deal.”
Biden predicted $800 million in super PAC spending against Obama.
“Rooms like this all over America, you are enabling us to do the only thing that will allow us to counter $800 million spent on carpet-bombing of the president of the United States, my friend, scurrilously attacking him with these super PACs, because that’s what they’re going to spend. Remember I said it. They’re going to spend about $800 million unaccountable dollars attacking my friend. There’s only one way to counter that. That’s to put together the single most consequential ground game in the history of American politics. We did it last time. It’s got to be better this time.”
Biden said Democrats are at an advantage in part because, for the first time he could recall, “Republicans aren’t hiding the ball,” but are “saying exactly what they believe.”
He said, “They’re just saying flat-out what they believe.”
Biden finished after about 18 minutes. He wore a dark suit and tie and spoke at a podium before a black backdrop. Two large tapestries hung on one side of the hall. Guests ate meats and cheeses and stood around white tablecloth-covered bar tables. There were shouts of “Four more years!” as Biden ended.
Before Biden spoke, Brown, who walked into the Sutter Club with senior adviser Nancy McFadden, encouraged attendees to raise “a lot of money” for Obama in what Brown called a “watershed election.”
He said, “We’re either looking forward, we’re looking at investment, inclusion for all of us, or we pull back to a rather narrow perspective of what America could be.”
State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson were also in the audience.
Biden said Johnson has a bright political future. Not only can he play basketball, Biden said, “He knows how to play politics, too.”
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
The five rings of the 2012 London Olympics were unveiled today at Heathrow Airport. The Games of the XXX Olympiad begin on July 27th and conclude on August 12th.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $82 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $32 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Three Russian warships are being dispatched to Syria, probably to the Russian Navy base at Tartus.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE “FAIR SHOT” VS. THE “TO DO LIST:” THE BIG REVEALING BLAH OF PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN RHETORIC.
** QUICK HITS.The role of Mitt Romney in President Barack Obama’s debate practice sessions will be played by 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. How perfect a bit of casting is that? … Kerry is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a not unlikely pick to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Kerry also picked Obama to deliver the 2004 convention keynote address, which skyrocketed the then little-known legislator into the stratosphere of American politics. The G-20 Summit backed fundamental overhauls of the troubled Eurozone today, including increased integration of the banking sector. Obama emphasized how each region of the world is very dependent on exporting to and investment from the European Union. … There are reports that former Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak has died. But that may not be accurate. … Governor Jerry Brown attended a fundraiser with Vice President Joe Biden today in Sacramento and left with state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg, but there is no California budget deal yet.
** NEW POLL: THE EVER EXCITING VEEPSTAKES. While Mitt Romney works on developing his message and persona, he also considers who will be his running mate.
A new Gallup Poll shows that two conventional wisdom favorites, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Ohio Senator Rob Portman, are not especially well known, despite their national prominence — Rubio is one of the country’s most prominent Hispanic figures and Portman held not one but two Cabinet posts in the Bush/Cheney Administration — and may be of limited utility on the ticket.
Rubio is famed as a representative of the Cuban-American community and one of only a few top GOP officials of Hispanic background.
Portman served as federal budget director and as US trade representative.
Less than half of Americans know enough about Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman — two possible candidates for the Republican vice presidential nomination — to have an opinion about them. Among those who do have an opinion, Rubio is viewed more favorably than unfavorably, while Portman’s image is mixed. …
At this point, Rubio is twice as well-known as Portman, with 44% of Americans in the May 7-10 USA Today/Gallup poll able to give an opinion of him — compared with only 22% of Americans who have an opinion about Portman.
Both Rubio and Portman have already developed partisan images among Americans who know them. Republicans’ and independents’ opinions of Rubio break positive by 42% to 11% and 27% to 14%, respectively, while Democrats are more negative than positive about him, with 8% favorable and 28% unfavorable. Portman’s image follows the same pattern, although fewer Americans of any partisan affiliation have an opinion of him. …
At the G-20 summit at Los Cabos in Mexico, European leaders are coming under increasing pressure from the rest of the world to come up with a lasting strategy to secure the euro.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Mexico and en route Washington, DC.
Obama is wrapping up his participation in the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Obama attends two working sessions in the morning at the Convention Center in Los Cabos.
At 12:45 PM Pacific, Obama attends a working lunch at the Convention Center.
At 2:20 PM Pacific, Obama attends the closing ceremony of the G-20 Summit at the Convention Center.
At 2:45 PM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with President Hu Jintao of China at the Convention Center. President Hu is not a doctor.
At 4:30 PM Pacific, Obama holds a press conference at the Convention Center.
At 5:40 PM Pacific, Obama departs Los Cabos, Mexico on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews.
While Obama has been busy with the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, the next phase of the Iranian nuclear negotiations has been going down in Moscow.
The US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany have been negotiating Monday and Tuesday with top Iranian officials over the Iranian nuclear program.
Nothing much, to my distinct non-surprise, has been accomplished.
Sanctions spurred by the Obama Administration seem to be having a big impact on Iran, and that impact was furthered by the OPEC meeting in Vienna at which Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE made clear their intention to keep their production up to take up the slack of lost Iranian exports and to keep oil prices significantly lower than Iran needs now.
But Iran is not backing off. Which is not shocking, after all. They’ve come this far. All supposedly for a civilian nuclear power program in this post-Fukushima in which nuclear power is increasingly falling away as an option.
The UN has halted its peacekeeping mission in Syria. Things have gotten far too violent during the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, two Russian warships carrying a contingent of Russian Marines are en route to the Russian naval base there.
In Egypt, Dr. Mohamed Morsi, an alumnus of the University of Southern California and candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, has claimed victory in the weekend’s presidential run-off election over retired Air Force General Ahmed Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister.
The official vote count is due on Thursday.
Pakistan has been thrown into a new political crisis after the country’s supreme court pushed the prime minister, who has clashed sharply with the military, out of his job. Three judges have disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was jailed for corruption during the Mubarak regime, from holding office and ordered the president to choose a new prime minister. The court ruled Gilani could not continue, after he was found guilty of contempt in April.
Just in case Morsi has won, as appears, the ruling military council, buttressed by decision of a supreme court made up of Mubarak regime justices, has dissolved the recently elected national parliament and moved to take all major fiscal, military, and constitution-building decisions out of the hands of the country’s newly elected leadership.
How’s that for a revolution?
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Iraq, AfPak, and North Korea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is continuing state budget negotiations even though the June 15th deadline has passed. And even though a budget bill has been adopted and sent to the governor.
Most of Brown’s big budget cuts seem to be accepted, leaving major contention in a few areas amounting to less than a billion dollars, including a potential trade-off between workfare overhaul and the provision of child care services, and in-home health care services.
But there isn’t really a new state budget yet. Despite legislative claims to the contrary, which leaders say justify their being paid despite not meeting the obvious spirit of the Prop 25 budget reform.
Why not?
Because most of the so-called “trailer bills” necessary to actually implement the budget have not been passed. Much less signed by Brown.
Brown vetoed a budget last year, first time in California’s history that has happened, and is prepared to veto again.
Democratic legislative leaders appear to be offering some version of public pension reform in exchange for avoiding permanent cuts to welfare.
** THE ENLIGHTENMENT DIVIDES AMERICAN POLITICS.We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
from the Declaration of Independence
There is no shortage of political divides in this era of angry politics. But one of the most fundamental of all is between those who favor the Enlightenment and those who oppose it. Considering that the ideals and values of the Enlightenment ushered in the transition from the medieval to the modern and drove the American Revolution, it’s a quite stunning and ironic state of affairs to find ourselves in during the early part of the 21st century.
The Enlightenment was a sustained starburst in political thought, a powerful philosophical movement in Europe and North America from the late 17th century through the whole of the 18th century and into the early 19th century. Drawing on Renaissance humanism and the emerging scientific revolution, Enlightenment thinkers rejected feudalism, royalism, superstition, and religious prophecy, applying the reason of science to society.
Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were the key leaders of the American Enlightenment, with George Washington and John Adams in substantial agreement.
With the guidance of these Founding Fathers, egalitarianism, expanding human rights, and the central role for science and rational inquiry in a society marked by a separation of church and state were central characteristics of early American thought.
The most ironic thing about the Tea Party-ized Republican Party, which, despite its appropriation of the Boston Tea Party moniker, is in reality little more than a re-branding of the far right, is that it rejects the ideas which animated the American Revolution, as demonstrated in the Declaration of Independence, and which spurred the remaking of America during the Civil War, as proclaimed in the Gettysburg Address.
A Gallup Poll earlier this month brought home just how far away from Enlightenment thinking much of the country, largely the part represented by the Republican Party, has become. It’s actually rather shocking.
An amazing 46% of Americans believe in creationism, the doctrine that denies the science of evolution and holds that human beings in our present form were created by God within the past 10,000 years. Which has people and dinosaurs existing together in some sort of ludicrous cartoon view of reality.
While big majorities of Democrats and independents reject this stuff, the great majority, some 60%, of Republicans embrace it. And when you remove those Americans with postgraduate educations from the mix, most of the remaining Americans believe in creationism.
So much for the power of the news media, the Internet, and other forms of media to inform the people.
Amazingly, the overall numbers are essentially the same as they were 30 years ago. Despite the fact that there have been numerous well-publicized scientific discoveries during the past three decades buttressing evolution science and debunking creationism. In fact, the number of Americans with this woeful sense of the world has actually gone UP a few points, from 44%. …
Unfortunately, this is only the latest example of how what is frankly medieval anti-Enlightenment thinking has coalesced in America.
The anti-Enlightenment forces in America are all of a piece — birthers who scream that the first black president is really not an American at all but an African, evolution deniers, greenhouse deniers, anti-solar types, the drill-baby-drill crowd who don’t get that oil is a global market so even more drilling here won’t drop the price of gasoline, anti-gays, anti-choicers, and so on.
Jefferson and Franklin would roll over in their graves listening to this gabble.
And the supposed “moderate” Mitt Romney is squarely behind all of it.
His own son made birther cracks about Barack Obama, the first black president, several months ago. Romney himself chose to celebrate his clinching win in the Republican primaries with a big fundraiser at the Vegas Strip casino of the most famous birther in the country, Donald Trump, who that very day gave interviews pushing his vicious nonsense.
Romney ran as a moderate in rather liberal Massachusetts. So the question is, when was Romney lying? When he ran to the left of Teddy Kennedy on gay rights when he tried to get elected to the U.S. Senate in the ’90s and pushed what’s now known as “Obamacare” as governor of Massachsetts in the past decade? Or now, when he runs for president as head of a political party that has pitched itself as anti-Enlightenment.
For Romney is also a former bishop in one of the most conservative religions in America, the Mormon Church. His conservative faith meant enough to him that he worked as a Mormon missionary in France while others his age were going to fight in the Vietnam War, which Romney, a superhawk, vociferously supported. But he doesn’t talk about it in public, and the media never presses him.
It’s all a far cry from the now vanished Republican Party we had in this country from the Civil War of the 1860s through the Mad Men days of the 1960s, when Republicans embraced civil rights, conservation, and the preservation of the Union against the rebellion of states which today make up the geographic core of the anti-Enlightenment forces in America.
Following the very hard-won victory of Union forces over Confederate at Gettysburg, one of the most critically important battles in American history, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln made a little speech, just 272 words. In this speech, the Gettysburg Address, the man credited as the father of the Republican Party celebrated the turning point in the Civil War and proclaimed the rebirth of the United States along the Enlightenment lines of the Declaration of Independence. …
** LOOKING FORWARD FROM MAD MEN‘S MEANDERING SEASON 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ONE CAN ONLY HOPE) … From my June 13th essay.
** MIDWAY: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST PIVOTAL BATTLES CAME IN MIDST OF OBAMA’S BIG STRATEGIC PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC. … From my June 9th essay.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
In another first for China, a Chinese spacecraft carrying the country’s first female taikonaut has docked with the Tiangong 1 space module, 213 miles above Earth. This is all preparatory for a Chinese space station.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $84 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $50 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $30 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
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