Month: November 2009

Best Thanksgiving Dinner Guests

by digby

Puppies:

It was a a fetching feast for the out-of-town guests. Canned turkey with potatoes and carrots; duck and sweet potato dinners, and bagged pheasant meals were included in the spread laid out for about 50 dogs from puppy mills and shelters at DoGone Fun, 1717 S. State, on Thanksgiving Day. The dogs were on a layover in a trip from Missouri to New York in search of new homes. Twenty of the dogs were rescued from puppy mills and considered unsaleable by their owners. The rest of the group was from a shelter in Joplin, Mo. Their journey is part of a campaign by Best Friends Animal Society, based in Utah, to eliminate puppy mills that breed dogs under inhumane conditions. The dogs, all small breeds and mixes, arrived in Chicago by truck. This morning , they’ll fly first-class to New York, where there is greater demand for dogs their size. Pet Airways is providing the flight. Wheeling-based Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food Co. donated the chow for their Thanksgiving feast. Other groups, including the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, contributed chewy pigskin chips, dog snacks and toys.

They’re publicizing this story because they want to remind people that if they’re planning on getting a pup for Christmas they should adopt from shelters or approved breeders instead of buying them from puppy mills, which are cruel and horrible. These little guys hit the lottery, but most aren’t so lucky.

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This Isn’t Politics

by digby

And it isn’t “entertainment.” It’s something else:

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Number One

by digby

Howie made a fun announcement this morning:

Blue America decided to lead off our endorsements for 2010 with a vote from people who have been donating to our PAC and our candidates for the past four years. We offered five progressive stalwarts, all of whom have proven themselves as members of Congress:

Donna Edwards (D-MD)
Alan Grayson (D-FL)
Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)

We were gratified to see that all five wound up with tons of votes; each deserves the support. For example, each of them signed Jim McGovern’s letter to President Obama last week asking that he not get swept up in the Military-Industrial Complex’s efforts to escalate the catastrophic and unwinnable war in Afghanistan. And I doubt if it will surprise anyone to find out that each is a co-sponsor of H.R. 1826, John Larson’s Fair Elections Now Act.

So who got the most votes and is about to get a $2,000 contribution from the Blue America PAC and become the first endorsed candidate for 2010? Well, it was probably inevitable at this point in the cycle, but… look for yourself (please) and if you’re in the mood, please chip in a donation to a tough re-election campaign coming up in less than a year.

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DC Deaniacs

by digby

Jamison Foser notes that the Village is rallying around its main man:

You’ve probably noticed that Washington Post columnist David Broder and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are having a bit of a spat. Again. What you may have missed was the Beltway media rallying around Broder via a Politico article earlier this week:

In an age of ideological divisions, Broder is widely known as a fair arbiter on Capitol Hill, a journalist who’s as interested in the process as he is in the policy and politics. He favors pragmatists over fierce ideologues and speaks up for decorum in Washington politics.

Read on for Foser’s world weary rebuttal of this nonsense.

I’m sure David Broder and his pals really believe they aren’t serving any ideology. They think they are simply reflecting mainstream America. Everyone knows that “the left” doesn’t respect the homespun values that these wealthy aristocrats like to pretend they have and because they insist that the government’s best tools like cutting taxes for millionaires and fighting inscrutable wars are not useful policies, they must be resisted at all times. They look at the Town halls and Beck and Palin and Limbaugh and don’t see radicals. They see middle aged white men and women who look just like them. Obviously then, the radicals must be the other guys.

Most importantly, they see the insistence on passing an agenda without the approval of the rump Republicans as unforgiveably uppity and obnoxiously ill-mannered. Even a conservative like Harry Reid cannot be allowed to insult The Dean for relying on bad information provided by rightwing zealots in his own newsroom. Why the whole village would would simply collapse if that caught on.

I think it’s time to revisit a seminal moment in Village history:

As Stewart says: balls of steel.

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Kelo Shots

by digby

I happened to tune into Glenn Beck the other day and he was blathering on nonsensically about Rockefeller Center and how the two small buildings next to 30 Rock were a testament to the bedrock American values of life, liberty and property. (The owners of the buildings had refused to sell when they were building Rockefeller Center.) Anyway, he was scribbling furiously on his little blackboard and running back and forth between some old pictures of the area and what not, making little sense as usual. But what I gathered was that this is some kind of paean to capitalism along with a convoluted critique of the Kelo takings decision, which has taken on iconic significance on the right.

Well, it stirred my memory that I’d forgotten to post this post on the Village Voice blog by Julia:

The outcome of New York’s embattled eminent domain development projects is called into question by the economic development project which made them possible.

The Pfizer research facility at the center of the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court decision is closing, taking over 1,400 jobs with it. The 5-4 Kelo decision allowed New London, CT to use eminent domain to condemn private property for the “public purpose” of commercial development near a new Pfizer research facility. The city, which gave Pfizer a property tax break of 80% for the first ten years, spent $80 million preparing the seized property to build the condominiums and hotels they promised to draw Pfizer into town. Development was supposed to bring 3,000 jobs to the area.

What New London didn’t do, and should have, was get a contractual obligation for the company to stay put in return for the money, because they clearly don’t feel any non-contractual obligation.

Pfizer spokesman Liz Power says the company had no stake in the outcome of the Kelo case. Their operations are being consolidated at a Pfizer facility in Groton (ironically, Suzanne Kelo, the plaintiff in the eminent domain case, moved to Groton after she was thrown out of her home). The New London facility will be empty before the tax break sunsets. New London heard about it when the rest of us did.

The irony.

Here in New York, the Bloomberg administration is fighting to seize properties in downtown Brooklyn and Willet’s Point, Queens for economic development. In the case of the Atlantic Yards proposal in Brooklyn, the city is offering seized land and $700 million in subsidies to developer Bruce Ratner to build apartments and a basketball arena.

Ratner already doesn’t feel any particular obligation to the taxpayers providing his windfall (or the current residents being offered below-market value for their condemned properties). Last week, he told business paper Crains NY, not generally a hotbed of anti-development sentiment, that he didn’t feel a need to share building plans with the public: “Why should people get to see plans? This isn’t a public project.”

Right wingers hate Kelo and they hate the government but they love Masters of the Universe and they love property rights and they just don’t know quite what to think about all this without their brains getting all muddled. Beck hates Kelo because he hates the idea of the government taking someone else’s property. But he also loves guys like Rockefeller, who he extolled on the show as a great American visionary who built a monument to American capitalism. And if Rockefeller could have done what Ratner is doing today, he would have.

To quote Neiwert’s great piece on producerism again:

A giveaway moment came during Sean Hannity’s April 15 evening “Tea Party” broadcast from Atlanta, when he brought in a live feed from the Rick and Bubba Tea Tantrum in Alabama:

Hannity: And I’m going to tell you one other thing: When did we ever get to a point in America where, we’re nearly at the point where fifty percent of Americans don’t pay anything in taxes! Nothing!

[Crowd boos]

Rick: The numbers out are just astounding that, that, how much that the very top taxpayers actually pay. I feel like these taxpayers are disenfranchised. I want them to have a share of the burden just like they have a share of the vote.

That’s right — it’s the wealthy top percentage of the country that needs a tax break. After all, they are the one Obama’s targeting, right? So at least they’re being upfront about just who “the taxpayers” are whose interests they’re out marching to defend.

You could find similar sentiments on the right only the month before, in mid-March, when it was revealed that executives at the insurance giant AIG – which had just been the recipient of a massive government bailout – continued to pay themselves multimillion-dollar bonuses with bailout money. This spurred a loud round of protest, mostly from liberals and labor groups angry about the abuse of taxpayer dollars.

But Rush Limbaugh defended the bonuses, telling his radio audience: “A lynch mob is expanding: the peasants with their pitchforks surrounding the corporate headquarters of AIG, demanding heads. Death threats are pouring in. All of this being ginned up by the Obama administration.” Glenn Beck had a similar rant on his Fox show: “What I really, really don’t like here is the idea that we are willing to give in to mob rule. And that’s what this is: The mob in Washington getting everybody all – I mean, the only thing they haven’t said is, ‘Bring out the monster!’ It’s mob rule! They are attempting to void legally binding contracts.”

This kind of obeisance to the captains of industry and their utrammeled right to make profits at the expense of everyone else is a phenomenon known as Producerism, which is a hallmark of right-wing populism.

I’m quite sure Beck doesn’t understand all that. He thinks he’s a champion of the little guy and he believes that he’s standing up for them when he rails against government takings and talks about the right to life, liberty and property. But when push comes to shove, his philosophy actually requires him to defend Bruce Ratner’s contractual “rights” to have the government intercede on his behalf. How convenient.

Meanwhile, as Julia rightly concludes:

[G]iven the outcome of the New London experiment in protecting corporations from the free hand of the market, perhaps the city should think twice about fighting to subsidize someone who feels comfortable telling us to go fuck ourselves before he gets his hands on our money.

I would think so. But then this very special producer might take his unique talents elsewhere and then where would they be?

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Church And State

by digby

As the conservative Catholic bishops in America begin to lobby strongly on social policy and assert their authority over politicians I can’t help but wonder if maybe they should keep a slightly lower profile right now considering this:

The Roman Catholic Church and the police in Ireland systematically colluded in covering up decades of child sex abuse by priests in Dublin, according to a scathing report released Thursday.

The cover-ups spanned the tenures of four Dublin archbishops and continued through to the mid-1990s and beyond, even after the church was beginning to admit to its failings and had professed that it was confronting abuse by its priests.

But rather than helping the victims, the church was concerned only with “the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets,” said the 700-page report, prepared by a group appointed by the Irish government and called the Commission of Investigation Into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

In a statement, the current archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, acknowledged the “revolting story” of abuses that the report detailed, saying, “No words of apology will ever be sufficient.” He added, “The report highlights devastating failings of the past.”

The report is the latest in a series of damning revelations about the church. In May, a report chronicled the sexual, emotional and physical abuse of orphans and foster children over 60 years in a network of church-run residential schools meant to care for the vulnerable and the disadvantaged.

Although that report portrayed a church that seemed institutionally broken, with guilt spread among many, the new one attaches particular blame to those at the top.

Obviously those like Bishop Tobin (the one who is denying Representative Patrick Kennedy communion) and those whose staff lobbied the House on the health care reform bill were not among those who participated in such vile acts. But as upper echelon clergy they should perhaps be a little bit more humble right now. In light of these revelations the Church simply doesn’t have the moral authority to intervene in the secular life of the whole country.

Perhaps the Church should just concentrate on doing good works for a while and not concern itself with others’ moral failings until it gets itself institutionally straight.

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Take A Day Off

by digby

Buy Nothing Day gets easier every year.

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A Thanksgiving Tribute To Me

by digby

All American values:

What should we really be celebrating on Thanksgiving?

Ayn Rand described Thanksgiving as “a typically American holiday” whose “essential, secular meaning is a celebration of successful production. It is a producers’ holiday. The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production.” She was right.

This country was mostly uninhabited and wild when our European forefathers began to develop the land and then build spectacular cities, shaping what has become the wealthiest nation in the world. It’s in the American spirit to overcome challenges, create great achievements, and enjoy prosperity.

We recognize that individuals free to produce create enormous wealth. We uniquely dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. It’s no accident that Americans have a holiday called Thanksgiving – a yearly tradition when we pause to appreciate the bountiful harvest we’ve reaped.

What is the contemporary version of this bountiful harvest? In spite of the current state of the economy, it’s our affluence. It’s the cars, houses, and vacations we enjoy. It’s the medicines we rely on, the movies we watch, and the safe, clean streets we live on. It’s the good life, for the long haul.

How do we get this bountiful harvest? Watch any hardworking American. We create it by working hard year after year, and by wanting excellence for ourselves and our loved ones. What we don’t create ourselves, we use our best judgment to trade value for value with those who have the goods and services we need, such as our bankers, hairdressers, and doctors. We alone are responsible for our wealth. We are the producers and Thanksgiving is our holiday.

So, on Thanksgiving, we should thank ourselves and the other producers who make the good life possible. Why don’t we?

From a young age, we are bombarded with messages designed to undermine our confident pursuit of values: “Be humble,” “You can’t know what’s good for yourself,” “It’s better to give than to receive,” and, above all, “Don’t be selfish!” We are scolded not to take more than “our share” – whether it is of electricity, profits, or pie. We are taught that altruism – not mere benevolence or generosity, but selfless sacrifice for others – is the moral ideal. We are taught to sacrifice for strangers, who inexplicably have a claim to our hard-earned wealth. We are asked to bail out failing banks and uninsured patients. We are asked to serve rather than lead. We are taught to kneel rather than reach for the sky.

But morally, each one of us should reach for the sky. Electricity, profits, and pie can only be truly earned through individual production – giving each of us the right to savor their consumption. Every decision, from which career to pursue to whom to call a friend, should be guided by what will best advance an individual’s rational goals, interests, and, ultimately, an individual’s life. We should take pride in being rationally selfish.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to appreciate and celebrate the fruits of our labor: our wealth, health, relationships, and property – all the values we most selfishly cherish. We should thank authors whose books made us rethink our lives, engineers who gave us the BlackBerry and iPhone, and financiers whose capital has helped build entire industries. We should thank ourselves and those individuals whose production makes our lives more comfortable and enjoyable – those who help us live the much-coveted American dream.

As you sit down to your sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner, think of all the talented individuals whose innovation and inventiveness made possible the products you are enjoying, even if the spread is a little smaller this year. As you celebrate with your chosen loved ones, thank yourself for everything you have done to make this moment possible. It’s a time to selfishly and proudly say: “I earned this.

Debi Ghate is vice president of academic programs at the Ayn Rand Institute, which promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”

I especially hope that those very special people who made billions speculating and then taking home even more when their companies failed and the taxpayers bailed them
out are enjoying their turkey.

And if millions of people got fucked in the process? Too bad. The “producers” earned it. The rest of you are parasites.

h/t tp bb

QOTD

by digby

From a commenter at Krugman’s blog:

With all of the comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis, young people are beginning to think that the allied powers defeated Nazi Germany because Germany had too much health care.

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Billionaire Populism

by digby

It’s Thanksgiving, not Halloween, but ghosts and ghoulies are still on my mind. Jamison Foser alerts us to the next wingnut media mogul, one who is actually far creepier than Rupert Murdoch because he’s a homegrown wingnut who, as part of the conservative billionaires club, may just be willing to spend vast amounts of his own money to keep the “movement” alive for the sake of moneyed interests everywhere:

In recent years, Anschutz has turned his attention to his media holdings, including his movie production company. And he is building a news-media empire, as well: he bought the San Francisco Examiner in 2004 and launched the Washington Examiner the next year, while trademarking the “Examiner” name in more than 60 cities. And earlier this year, Anschutz purchased The Weekly Standard from Murdoch.

Anschutz and the people in his employ are quick to counter suggestions that his right-wing politics drive editorial decisions at his newspapers. A 2007 profile of Anschutz in American Journalism Review included a Washington Examiner editor stressing that Anshutz had told him “All I want to do is put out quality newspapers.” A 2004 Washington Post article quoted another Anschutz employee stressing that Anschutz had “taken no hand in the operations, nor in demanding any particular editorial policy.”

But Anschutz’s publications certainly do reflect his conservative views.

Earlier this year, Media Matters’ Terry Krepel detailed the right-wing tilt to the Washington Examiner’s staff, including alums of the National Review, The Washington Times, NewsBusters, Robert Novak’s newsletter, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation.

And those kinds of staffing decisions lead to headlines like these, all featured on the front of the Washington Examiner’s web page Wednesday afternoon:

* Are Democrats exiting the sinking ship?
* Inside the numbers: How Obama has fallen
* Global warming industry becomes too big to fail
* Youngest voters spurn Obamacare
* Damn the deficit: Full speed ahead on health care

Then there’s the Opinion section, which features such gems as:

* Gene Healy: Obamacare is unconstitutional
* Grace-Marie Turner: Ten reasons public won’t buy Senate health care plan
* Dr. David Gratzer: Medicine isn’t perfect, Obamacare is even less perfect
* Ken Blackwell: Obama’s indecision is hurting foreign alliances

If Anschutz’s right-wing politics were shaping only the Washington Examiner, it might not matter much. Washington has plenty of conservative media; how much damage can one more do — particularly given that The Washington Times (another newspaper controlled by a right-wing billionaire) is in danger of imploding?

But remember: Anschutz trademarked the “Examiner” name in more than 60 other cities. And he is making a push into the “hyper-local” news market with his Examiner.com sites.

If he’s able to pull this off in a time of waning revenues for mainstream journalism, it could end up turning far more of the media into FOX style conservative news organs throughout the country. It’s not that local news hasn’t always been controlled by wealthy people. It usually has been. But this is a different thing altogether — it’s an effort to homogenize the local news, which has been happening for some time but not in an overtly political way. Hopefully the internet can mitigate this a bit, since there are lower barriers to entry. But local portals with all kinds of nifty local information interspersed with right wing political propaganda is a good idea. All it takes is money and these rightwing aristocrats always have plenty of that.

Yesterday I heard Tony Blankley make the astonishing remark that Obama had “confiscated” General Motors. (It was so astonishing even Chuck Todd was taken aback.) And it occurred to me that all this absurd, over-the-top talk of socialism and “big government takeovers” may not just be being used by the big money boyz to keep the rubes confused, but may also be being used by wingnut welfare queens to scare the big money donors. After all, the ideas expressed in The Powell Memorandum would never have been taken seriously if there hadn’t been a feeling of chaos in the air and impending social and economic change. The left is failing to deliver on the social chaos this time, so it must be delivered by the right. And the paranoia undergirding the memorandum can still be relevant if they can persuade enough conservative donors that the Obama administration is the second coming of the Bolsheviks.

In any case, the fact is that billionaires (with some exceptions) are almost always most concerned with keeping as much of their money as possible and the wingnuts give them the political cover to ensure that the government works for their benefit. (One would think they would be more concerned about the gambling addicts who run the financial sector, but evidently they can’t quite wrap their minds around the fact that all those smart young fellas aren’t as smart as they need them to be.) Just as the teabaggers are susceptible to talk of FEMA camps and Kenyan jihadists in the White House the billionaires are susceptible to tales of government “confiscation” and worry about the center right Democrats getting uppity. I’m guessing we will see more blatant political moves from the malefactors of great wealth in the coming months.

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