Monday Miscellany and Open Thread

"Shuggie" - Foxygen

My neglect continues -- travel, Amtrak's incredibly bad wifi on Friday, the lad came to town for the weekend (to attend some conference that featured Yglesias) and I had to pull a few hours time at the old firm on Saturday.  So I feel a little out of it.  

- I've been watching a little bit of the new netflix production of House of Cards with Kevin Spacey.  I am afraid it pales in comparison to the original British series from 1990 with the incomparable Ian Richardson. (If you have not seen it, by all means do so -- all three seasons of it are superb.) There are two problems I see with the series -- one is that Spacey's Francis Underwood lacks the humor and joire d'evil that made Richardson's Francis Urquhart irresistible.  The other is that what works in a parliamentary system -- the idea of a skilled legislative maneuverer rising improbably to power -- just does not really translate into the American system of government.  It is not unusual for someone to rise to Prime Minister in a parliamentary system without facing the voters as the party standard bearer -- think of John Major, Gordon Brown, and Julia Gilliard for example.  All simply needed to convince enough members of their caucus that they were the ones to lead their government going forward.  In the U.S., legislative skill have seldom translated into capturing the presidency.  (No one could have ever imagined Tom DeLay becoming president.)   Other than Lyndon Johnson, I can't really think of someone who was a major leader in Congress capturing the presidency.  (I guess Gerald Ford's unique path to the top could also be considered, but Ford was never really a powerhouse as the head of the GOP minority.)  I am trying to think who else managed to obtain the presidency after being a major congressional power?  Maybe James Madison, but his service was short in the House and it was hardly his claim to fame.  Other than him, I can't come up with anyone.

- I enjoyed reading this article in the New Republic about the GOP as the party of white people, but found its attempt to intellectualize the racism that has driven a great deal of the Republican Party's electoral strength over the last fifty years to be a bit much.  I don't think it was John Calhoun's ideas of limited federal power that appealed to the new conservatives. 

- And please read this New Yorker piece by Jill LePore on the defense budget that bbw pointed out to me.  It's really well done and has a very informative historical aspect to it.

Alright, time to call it a night.  Hope all of our New England friends have dug out.

Jump in.

 

 

Comments

[low-tech cyclist]

The big news of the morning is Ratzinger's resignation. (Never did really come to think of him as Benedict.) 'Old age,' he says - well, 'spend more time with my family' was out, I guess.

He was already more or less the acting Pope for several years during JPII's senescence, so he's really presided over the Church's non-investigation of the child molestation scandal since it broke into public view in 2002, and its largely successful efforts to limit responsibility to the molesting priests themselves, while shielding the cardinals and bishops who knew all about it but covered the priests' tracks for decades.

A good analogy would be a Watergate investigation that had gone no farther than the seven burglars.

There had been some indications that Ratzinger had been directly involved in the cover-up, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was about to catch up with him. We'll see.

[oddjob]

Other than him, I can't come up with anyone.

By far the more common approaches to the US presidency are:
- to serve successfully (or, at least famously) as a governor
- to serve successfully (or, at least famously) as a general during a war
- to serve as vice president when a president dies in office

[oddjob]

The big news of the morning is Ratzinger's resignation.

Yes!

[oddjob]

(NO ONE did joire d'evil like Ian Richardson!)

[kathy a.]

oregun gun nuts rally, and special bonus! if one has a concealed carry permit in OR, one can openly carry loaded weapons in the state house. all of which freaks me the heck out.

[low-tech cyclist]

California is considering a great set of gun laws:

California's newly proposed gun laws would:

* Ban the possession of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds
* Prevent the future sale, purchase, manufacture, importation, or transfer of any firearms that can accept detachable magazines
* Close the "bullet button" loophole by banning tools that allow the quick changing of gun magazines
* Regulate ammunition sales like the state regulates gun sales. Ammunition dealers would need to be licensed and anyone buying from them would need to obtain a permit and complete a background check.
* Create a 5 cent tax on each bullet purchased, for the purpose of funding crime prevention
* Prevent felons and other adults barred from gun ownership from living in a house that contains any guns
* Prohibit the loaning or sale of a firearm between people who know each other personally
* Take steps to phase out legal possession of assault weapons that were purchased before California outlawed their sale
* Require all firearms owners to take an hours-long gun safety course every year, similar to what the state now requires for obtaining a concealed-weapon permit
* Require gun owners to purchase insurance to cover damage they may inflict
* Require CalPERS and CalSTRS, two of the nation's largest pension funds, to divest from companies that make, sell, or market firearms or ammunition

[kathy a.]

ha, i ment "oregon," of course, but the typo is ok under the circumstances.

panetta just extended a bunch of military benefits to same-sex spouses! this is just great news. although he was unable to extend full benefits for legal reasons (including dependent health care, on base housing, burial in military cemetaries), his memo suggests that will happen just as soon as DOMA is out of the way.

i was once a military spouse, and i am firmly of the opinion that spouses also serve. military ID, commissary privileges, and a bunch of other things helped alleviate the sacrifices, particularly overseas. i am particularly disappointed that health benefits are not yet available for same sex spouses -- that's important. but this is a happy and significant development, nonetheless.

[kathy a.]

ltc -- sometimes i'm proud of my state. crossing fingers that it passes.

i think that the two large public pension funds are already divesting.

[low-tech cyclist]

kathy - I just assumed 'oregun' was intentional, and not a Freudian slip, or even a Jungian camisole.

And while my connection to California isn't strong (I was born in Los Angeles, but we moved east in 1958), I'm glad to see the Golden State once again trying to lead the nation in positive directions.

[janinsanfran]

Love those California gun laws. Hope we can get a good number of them enacted, especially the per bullet tax to pay for enforcement.

I read somewhere that one of the measures obstructed by NRA pressure was having markings put onto ammunition during manufacture that would make each shell traceable as to origin and even purchaser. That strikes me as a technical measure that would be very helpful -- but don't know if it really is feasible. Like opposing background checks for gun buyers, objecting to this seems to me to amount to defending irresponsibility or even law breaking.

Anyone know if I'm just making this up? Not my area of expertise.

[kathy a.]

universal background checks and required gun registration would go a long way; so would funding the mechanisms of keeping track of particular guns and ammo sales (and of where the guns came from in all those deaths and injuries). none of that would impair the rights of hunters or people who really think they need weapons for self-protection. we basically do that much for cars, plus we require drivers to pass a test and carry a license -- and most places, we require liability insurance, too.

liability insurance would be really great with guns. that would immediately make more gun owners evaluate whether they need the entire arsenal, and whether they have their shit secured enough that nobody is likely to grab a weapon and go on a shooting spree.

as i understand it, NRA opposes every damned thing. i don't know a lot about the technical side of ammo manufacturing, but it shouldn't be hard to stamp some identifier on bullet casings -- even if it is a lot number, like with other goods or items at the supermarket -- that would at least narrow down the source.

another thing that NRA opposes is collecting public health data about gun deaths and injuries, and the sources of those guns. for other public health emergencies, we are able to collect that data.

[nancy]

Very cute. The NRA is so pleased that Ted Nugent will be in the gallery at the SOTU, courtesy of Texas congressional lunatic, Steve Stockman. Apparently the NRA has forgotten that the google will easily yield Nugent's disgusting evade-the-draft methods along with numerous other outrages along the way. Domestic violence, animal cruelty, outrageous misogyny, racism and of course 'metaphorical' physical threats to our President. Nice PR move assholes.

***

Elizabeth Drew: Are Republicans Beyond Saving? NYRB . Is the jury still out?

[Mandos]

I think it's perfectly possible. The markings on the bullet should correspond to the bar code on the package. When the ammo is sold, the package's bar code is scanned and the purchaser's ID is scanned. Bullets are now at least traceable to purchaser if not shooter.

[kathy a.]

thanks, mandos. and that gives all the buyers a reason to keep the goods locked up, not loan to relatives, not be a middle-man, etc.

[low-tech cyclist]

Getting back to Ratzinger, it looks like the Cardinal Mahony document dump might have been what pushed the Rat out the door. According to Adele Stan:

What is clear, though, is that Mahony repeatedly failed to act on concerns about the sexual abuse of children by priests that brought to him by pastors and church officials throughout the diocese, and that when he did, his actions were designed to avoid criminal prosecutions of the predator priests. And it is also clear that in his Vatican office, Ratzinger was the recipient of letters from Mahony informing the Holy See of what actions he had taken.

For instance, in a 2003 letter to Ratzinger, Mahony says of Father Lynn R. Caffoe that between the priest and one boy, there were 100 "instances of masturbatory and copulative acts," according to an account in the Los Angeles Daily News.

But Mahony never reported Caffoe's alleged crimes to police, and Ratzinger apparently never instructed him to.

I've said this before but IMHO the Roman Catholic Church should liquidate its assets (excepting the houses of worship in each parish, which should be deeded to the individual congregations), put them in a trust fund for the victims of priestly abuse, make all of its documents available to the appropriate legal authorities, and then go out of business.

At which point the Catholic laity can re-create their church in whatever manner they choose, free of the encumbrances of the past.

[paula]

l-tc. Re: Ratz. The plot thickens. Be prepared to hear more about some of his "indescretions," as his brother calls them.

[nancy]

One wonders if the GOP national leadership has an idea how their juvenile games [leaving off the 'manship' part] have worn so exceedingly thin, as viewed from a distance. From out here in EverydayUSAWorld.

Reid needs to bring back the filibuster discussion now. If the Hagel gambit goes, we're long past katy-bar-the-door.

Tomorrow I am planning on finally packaging up the copy of McCain's biography which we purchased and sent off to him for autograph, back in 2000 -- book was sent with a letter about our family's history with the Naval Academy and our then seventh-grader's McCain enthusiasms. His office returned it, signed. They're getting it back tomorrow with a note. His book is being dishonorably discharged from our home library.