Guest Blog by TOMM
Yesterday, WikiLeaks posted the Pentagon’s “Journolist” papers. On Sunday, more than 90,000 Classified documents about all aspects of the Afghan war were put online by Wikileaks, and massive presentations were provided by the NYTimes, The Guardian in the UK, and Der Stern in Germany.
I mean, they do not just have A story or An editorial, they have each created a package of stories that seems pretty much unprecedented, though of course the Pentagon Papers come to mind. This material is far more extensive, and there is more to come. Since the LATimes has a page one story this morning saying that the White House condemns the leaks blah blah blah, obviously they are missing out, and likely other local papers, no matter how high their aspirations, are underplaying this extraordinary release of info. The Washington Post, for example, leads with the same angle as the LATimes:
U.S. condemns release of leaked documents
Their page one [online] sidebar is:
Wikileaks flexes some muscle
and, with a photo selection:
Ground-level account of Afghan war Documents provide new insights into a period in which the Taliban was gaining strength.
Makes the LATimes look pretty anemic. Anyway, it might well be that the details of all this staggering mass of Secret info does not interest you any more than it does me, but at the very least, at the level of phenomenon, I hope you will take a couple of minutes to check this out. Just go to the links below (the Der Stern link is in English) and let yr eyes wash over the mass of information.
Simply noting the headlines will convey the gist; read more at will. A single minute at each site will give you plenty of context in which to judge mass media’s coverage of these revelations. I send this information and this encouragement not because I have any axe to grind on the war or US strategy, and I’ve not gone into depth with any of these sites, but my cursory look this morning suggests that this story might well be underplayed in contrast to the usual fluff. The LATimes, for instance, seems waaay more interested in ComicCon even than the Bell, CA salary scandal, which is even more local than this weekend’s annual convention in San Diego.
- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/war-logs.html
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/afghanistan-the-war-logs
- http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html
Having accomplished my purpose by writing the above, I seem to have gone woolgathering again, this time about the obstructionist party and such. For the above, I’m just offering links to intel.
For Advocacy, I’m recommending this very clear, very scary discussion on the nonsense that cutting taxes increases revenue. Personally, I think this is a substantially terrifying discussion, and the commenters are mostly well-informed, from their various conflicting perspectives. I include a single paragraph from the article for yr reading pleasure:
The political genius of supply-side economics This is extraordinarily dangerous. The danger does not arise from the fiscal deficits of today, but the attitudes to fiscal policy, over the long run, of one of the two main parties. Those radical conservatives (a small minority, I hope) who want to destroy the credit of the US federal government may succeed. If so, that would be the end of the US era of global dominance. The destruction of fiscal credibility could be the outcome of the policies of the party that considers itself the most patriotic. http://tinyurl.com/2g6ydzq (Financial Times, UK)
Nobelist Paul Krugman endorses that article, btw, commenting:
Martin ends on a deeply pessimistic note. I wish I could disagree.
Somehow Republicants– in the face of all evidence, as usual, only compare the government to families when it comes to the notion of spending less; reduced income, on the other hand, is supposed to operate Completely Differently for them than it does for families. Thus: We can’t use credit for spending to provide jobs to stimulate the economy (and increase gross tax levels) but we must cut income because that makes the government richer. That has aptly been called Voodoo Economics. And the consequences of getting things upside down like this will be catastrophic.
Meanwhile, opposition party leaders are promising to repeal Health Care, repeal Financial Reform, cut takes for the top 2% of US citizens and lead us backwards as fast as possible. If the minority gains control of either house this fall, the consequences will be severe. Rep Paul Ryan (R-Wis) will take over the Budget Committee and will push the “Roadmap” he has released– a value-added tax, an end to corporate income tax (already at an effective rate of 4%), major Medicare Cuts, and privatized Social Security. Here in CA, failed CEO Carla Fiorina is onboard with tax cuts for the rich, if she replaces Barbara Boxer as Senator:
“Let me propose something that may seem crazy to you: you don’t need to pay for tax cuts. They pay for themselves, if they are targeted, because they create jobs.”
And why not? John Boehner says that pretty much his entire caucus agrees with that. But then, he’s also a leader of the party that thinks that after eight years of Bush/Cheney, we have “too much regulation.” Fortunately, he has a plan:
“I think having a moratorium on new federal regulations is a great idea it sends a wonderful signal to the private sector that they’re going to have some breathing room.”
Darrel Issa (R-CA) will be in charge of investigating the White House and has announced he will want double the current staff so they can issue more subpoenas faster. From the people who spent ten days of paid time investigating the Clinton Christmas card list, you know that can’t be good– and yr worst fears would be right: Rep Michelle Bachman (R-WI) just the other day said all other business of/by/for the people should come to a halt so that Congress can devote itself full-time to investigations.
“Oh, I think that’s all we should do,” Bachmann told the Three Fingers of Politics website. “I think that all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another, and expose all the nonsense that has gone on.”
The far-right Washington Times just published two op-ed pieces calling for impeachment of the president. One of those articles was by former Rep. Tom Tancredo, who seems to be running for a governorship. No one in the minority party is repudiating these calls for action. Or the Ryan Roadmap.
Members of Congress must defend our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Today, that means bringing impeachment charges against Mr. Obama.
–Tom Tancredo
The number of candidates calling for “second amendment” solutions to national policy is increasing, right along with the number of officially endorsed candidates who are calling for secession or at lest the repeal of numerous amendments to the US Constitution, from the income tax to direct election of Senators. (How did the Baggers discover a festering need for Less democracy?)
Pete Sessions, head of the Republican Congressional Committee, says the party wants to “go back to the exact same agenda” they had for eight years under the discredited last president.
Steve Benen said, earlier this month: “In recent weeks, we’ve seen high-profile Republicans urge the party to return to Bush’s economic agenda, Bush’s Social Security agenda, Bush’s tax policies, and Bush’s regulatory agenda.” He has links to document all three returns:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_07/024786.php
The new head of the House Energy Committee would be Joe Barton (R-TX), the man who notoriously apologized to BP after its catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil contamination.
And meanwhile, no one has been able to get any of the top obstructionists to offer an alternative to the agenda that swept Democrats into office. What exactly would they cut? No idea. What would they do to address pressing problems? No idea. Except to repeal health care reform and financial reform while cutting taxes for the über-rich. He and the rest of his once-great party won’t even commit to the Ryan Roadmap, or offer an alternative to it. Benen’s good question:
Can anyone think of a time they’ve heard John Boehner speak intelligently about any subject? Ever? Can anyone identify an issue where Boehner has demonstrated even the slightest bit of expertise? Or even knowledge?
Andrew Breitbart, who posted totally dishonest videos about ACORN (which has been cleared of all wrong-doing in at least three separate investigations, now) and Shirley Sherrod is going to be a special guest at an upcoming RNC fund-raiser. That he is a serial liar seems irrelevant.
But that pretty much sums up the state of discourse, with many Republicant candidates literally running from the press and working overtime to hide their extremist positions against Social Security, Medicare, and the rest. Fake Libertarian Rand Paul is hardly the most extreme, and he just put the entire Civil Rights Act back on the table for discussion.
Which somehow, after numerous disruptions, puts me back at The Political Genius of Supply-Side Economics, which presents a serious argument that leading “conservatives” will attempt (as they did twice under Clinton) to force the US into a debt default, thus creating the biggest financial crisis in world economic history. (And yes, the Constitution explicitly forbids such a default.)
Will the party of the birthers return us to the golden days of #43? Will they put climate deniers and impeachers in charge? Will they finally reveal their own proposals for dealing with critical national issues? Do they even agree that climate change and energy independence and infrastructure even need to be addressed at all? If they think so, they’re being awfully quiet about it.
They’re also pretty quiet about wanting to nuke Iran and bury the START treaty on nuclear weapons, but there’s no surprise there. The bagger party is way more interested in partisanship than in doing anything to make the US more safe.
All of which is much more than I meant to write; all I really started out to do was call attention to the massive Wikileaks treasure trove, which superficial initial analysis suggests is not getting the attention it deserves. Guess the rest of the day will make that plain to me one way or another.
dr. guillot’s magic wealth equalization machine
— In 2007, at the height of the “Bush boom,” such as it was, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was still lower than it had been in 2000. –Paul Krugman
his vorpal sword here: Thanks, TOMM.
Dumbasses today; Dominionists tomorrow.
Courage.
