The road to redemption for the Republican Party in California may be even rougher than November's statewide electoral drubbing indicated, as a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll shows a deep reluctance among many voters to side with a GOP candidate and broad swaths of the state holding views on government's role that conflict with Republican tenets.RTWT.
California voters surveyed in the poll repudiated the party's stance on illegal immigration by endorsing a host of positions intended to make it easier for the undocumented to gain legal status. Their support for same-sex marriage outnumbered that opposing any legal recognition by more than 3 to 1. Californians also endorsed an assertive role for government in protecting minority citizens, regulating corporations and helping the poor and needy, and rejected arguments that an activist role for government had harmed the fiber of American society.
The negative overlay both explained and helped determine the fates of the party's candidates in November. As a GOP tide swept the nation, Republicans here lost all statewide offices, with one contest, for attorney general, still unresolved but leaning toward the Democrat. Republicans here also failed to gain any congressional seats and lost a legislative seat.
Strikingly, almost one in five California voters said they would never cast a ballot for a Republican. Among Latinos, that rose to almost one in three. Only 5% of California voters were as emphatically anti-Democrat.
"I don't know how any Republican thinks they can win in California after looking at this," said GOP pollster Linda DiVall, who with Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg directed the survey for The Times and the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences.
The party faces a critical collision between its own voters, a minority in California, and those it needs to attract to win. The most faithful Republicans this year — those who voted for both Meg Whitman for governor and Carly Fiorina for Senate — said by a 27-point margin that to be more successful, Republicans should nominate "true conservatives."
But among the majority of voters who spurned Whitman and Fiorina in November — and in whose good graces any future winning candidate would need to be — the results were reversed. Forty-three percent said that future Republican candidates needed to be more moderate. Only 20% said that Republicans should nominate "true conservatives."
As those figures help illustrate, the GOP's difficulties in California rest on two overlapping conflicts, ideological and demographic. The party's conservative primary voters determine nominees, even if their views are often opposite those of the far more moderate general election audience. And the party's white and conservative voter base is increasingly giving way to the state's non-white and nonpartisan population.
RELATED: "Bristol Palin: Prayer Helped Me Through Dancing Controversy."
The ultimate solution is plain: regime change. But how to achieve it is another matter. China is North Korea’s major remaining lifeline, but unfortunately it is hard to see how to persuade the Chinese to cut off their client state. They may not like Pyongyang’s powerplays, but they are even less wild about the notion of a unified Korea allied with the United States.Actually, the way to achieve it is clear: The Obama administration should go to the United Nations requesting a resolution condemning North Korean aggression under international law. The U.S. should invoke Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, declare a breach of international peace and call for a "police action" to preempt further North Korean attacks. This is not idle armchair analysis. South Korea's Foreign Ministry yesterday accused North of violating the 1953 armistice, and Seoul "has decided to sharply bolster its military arsenal in the tense Yellow Sea to counter any possible additional attack from North Korea." And the government has directed the military to revise its rules of engagement. Of course, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has already warned that Beijing "opposes any threat of force" on the Korean Peninsula, so we know the difficulties ahead. But we shouldn't blink. Given the Obama administration's soft-peddling responses to global threats so far, the U.S. needs to move beyond the current pleasure cruise gunboat diplomacy now under way off the Korean peninsula. The Washington Post reports on U.S. goals in the naval deployment, "U.S. Aircraft Carrier's Arrival Off Korean Peninsula Also Sends a Message to China":
In dispatching the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, the Obama administration said it was putting on a show of U.S. support for South Korea.That should be just a start. Developing news earlier today indicated that South Koreans were badly shaken by reports of civilian casualties in the Yeonpyeong attacks. And things won't get better with more patty-cake diplomacy and meaningless démarches from the Hillary Clinton State Department. B.R. Myers' essay at NYT is suggestive: "North Korea Will Never Play Nice." But to be even more explicit: Topple the regime in Pyongyang or be prepared for the next generation of deadly hostilities as Kim Jong-il prepares to cede the stage to his successor.
South Korea was attacked Tuesday by a deadly North Korean artillery barrage, days after the North revealed what could be a new nuclear weapons program, and President Obama said he wanted to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with an American ally.
But the carrier - with 6,000 sailors and aviators and 75 warplanes - has another audience: China. Exasperated with a lack of help from Beijing on the Korean Peninsula, the Obama administration is trying to pressure China to constrain North Korea.
Call it Gray Friday.
Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season, has lost a bit of its luster as hungry retailers try to stretch the one-day shopping bacchanal on the day after Thanksgiving into a weeklong bonanza.
Big chains including Sears and Toys R Us have joined Wal-Mart and Kmart in offering Thanksgiving Day hours. Others have already begun hawking massive discounts and pushing online deals. And to keep the party going past Friday, many retailers will offer fresh discounts Saturday and Sunday.
There's a lot riding on the outcome. Retailers hope an improving economy will bring the biggest holiday receipts in four years — and if they succeed, it could help set off a chain of events that could accelerate the country's slow recovery, said economist Esmael Adibi of Chapman University.
"If the retail sector is healthy, that will eventually lead down the road to expansions, and expansions lead to hiring," he said. "Additional hiring generates more income, and then that income in turn will be spent. It's a multiplier effect."
Wall Street was feeling optimistic about the retail industry as it headed into the all-important Thanksgiving weekend. Continuing a recent run-up, investors pushed an index of 90 retail stocks to the highest level in more than three years Wednesday, with Guess shares gaining 11% and shares of Amazon.com, Tiffany & Co. and Big 5 each rising more than 5%.
Consumer spending at the nation's retailers, although not robust, has been generally healthy all year. So economists are predicting the best holiday season since 2006 (before the recession) and are estimating a year-over-year retail sales increase of 2.3% to 3.5%.
Despite the earlier-than-ever holiday deals this year, habitual Black Friday shoppers say they'll still be out in force for the annual shopping extravaganza.
WaPo has the story, "Sarah Palin's 'Snuff Film' Has Animal Rights Group Angry." But according the Alaska Charter Association (via JWF), "Halibut clubbing is actually a standard practice among fishermen."
She never mentions the word addiction
In certain company
Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan
After you meet her family
She paints her eyes as black as night now,
Pulls those shades down tight
Yes, she gives a smile when the pain comes,
The pain gonna make everything alright
Says, she talks to angels,
They call her out by her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name
She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket
She wears a cross around her neck
Yes, the hair is from a little boy,
And the cross is someone she has not met, not yet
Says she talks to angels,
Says they all know her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name...
The odd stories will lead the news, but how's that opt out thingy working out otherwise?
Recall my previous entry: "How Far on TSA Opposition?" I'd go for the body scanners since I'm worried that one of the al Qaeda freaks is actually gonna get through — and, yeah, I know the response that searches and scanners don't work, blah, blah, but until we profile Muslims ...
Today's airport security is widely regarded as a waste of time—the TSA has never caught a terrorist that we know of—and many regard it as what security expert Bruce Schneier calls "security theater," something aimed at giving the appearance of safety, as opposed to its reality.Yid With Lid has more on that: "These Are The Reasons Why Israel's Airline Security Doesn't Need To Touch Our Junk." Or your breasts: "Woman: TSA Agents Singled Me Out For My Breasts."
Even if that's a bit too harsh, it's clear that American security policy is aimed at keeping objects off of planes. For the Israelis, on the other hand, profiling isn't a bug but a feature. Israeli Arabs can breeze through security, while Americans with odd stamps on their passports—as globe-hopping correspondent Michael Totten recently noted—face extensive questioning. The Israelis focus on the person, looking for signs of nervousness, stories that don't hang together and other evidence of nefarious intent. This makes sense. Ultimately, it's people, not objects, who pose the danger.
So now let's take one more look at the TSA hysteria, and re-evaluate if we should continue to simply accept the surface narrative, or consider what we might learn by looking beneath the surface. Because everywhere you look, the alleged victims' stories often turn out to be false or highly suspicious, promoted by lobbyists posing as "ordinary guys," and everywhere the cast of characters is always the same: drawn from the cult-ish fringes of the libertarian movement, with trails leading straight to the billionaire Koch brothers' network of libertarian think-tanks and advocacy groups. The tea party must really be freaking out the commies, since radical leftists and radical libertarians have long been on the same side. I'll believe folks at The Nation when they come out aggressively against the Ground Zero Mega Mosque, or in favor of the Afghanistand deployment.And I guess this is one of those extremely rare times where I agree with Glenn Greenwald: "Anatomy of a journalistic smear job."
One of the main criticisms of the essay was that its central thesis relied upon anti-Semitic notions of disproportionate Jewish power in media and politics. Christopher Hitchens, by no means a reflexive supporter of Israel, responded to the essay in ‘Overstating Jewish Power,’ an article for Slate (27 March 2006). He criticised the way that Mearsheimer and Walt ‘present the situation as one where the Jewish tail wags the American dog, and where the United States has gone to war in Iraq to gratify Ariel Sharon,’ describing this as ‘partly misleading and partly creepy’.On how convincing the pair’s case was, veteran Israel critic Noam Chomsky concluded: ‘not very’. He also criticised Mearsheimer and Walt’s ‘highly selective use of evidence’, offering alternative examples of US-Israel friction in which ‘Israel was compelled to back down’.
In marked contrast, the political far right was much more welcoming of Mearsheimer and Walt’s thesis. Former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke gave ‘The Israel Lobby’ his full approval, saying:
‘It is quite satisfying to see a body in the premier American University essentially come out and validate every major point I have been making since even before the war even started… the task before us is to wrest control of America’s foreign policy and critical junctures of media from the Jewish extremist Neocons that seek to lead us into what they expectantly call World War IV.’The LRB published more of the same from John Mearsheimer in 2009 in ‘The Lobby Falters’ in which he complained that President Obama is unwilling to assert his authority over the pro-Israel lobby – ‘this is one opponent he is not willing to challenge’.
The full article is at the link.
I borrowed the title above from Melanie, who has additional commentary: "The London Review of Bigotry."
The Washington Post, a bit bruised from its adventures in the liberal blogosphere, has hired Commentary's prolific Jennifer Rubin, one of the hardest-line conservative hawks around on national security issues in general and Israel in particular ...Smith fails to cite the title of Klein's post, which is more indicative of the left's antipathy toward Jennifer Rubin: "Bigoted Religious Extremists."Rubin is a staunch advocate of American military action against Iran and harsh Obama critic. She's also a frequent target of the left, branded the "La Pasionara of the neocons" by Joe Klein.
In the run up to Our Glorious Iraqi Adventure, Condoleezza Rice once reportedly dismissed comments by Doug “The Fucking Stupidest Guy On The Face Of The Earth” Feith by saying “Thanks Doug, but when we want the Israeli position we’ll invite the ambassador.”I assume that the WaPo knows that this is Jennifer Rubin’s default setting.
When the girl now identified as Jane Doe 2 came under their control in 2006, at age 12, the Somali Outlaws and the Somali Mafia gangs set a firm rule: Their members could have sex with her free; others must pay with money or drugs.More at the link.
Repeatedly over the next three years, in apartments, motel rooms and shopping center bathrooms in Minnesota and Tennessee, the girl performed sexual acts for gang members and paying customers in succession, according to a federal indictment that charged 29 Somali immigrants with drawing young girls into prostitution over the last decade, using abuse and threats to keep them in line, and other crimes. The suspects, now aged 19 to 38, sported nicknames like Hollywood, Cash Money and Forehead, prosecutors said.
The allegations of organized trafficking, unsealed this month, were a deep shock for the tens of thousands of Somalis in the Minneapolis area, who fled civil war and famine to build new lives in the United States and now wonder how some of their youths could have strayed so far. Last week, in quiet murmurings over tea and in an emergency public meeting, parents and elders expressed bewilderment and sometimes outrage — anger with the authorities for not acting sooner to stop the criminals, and with themselves for not saving their young.
The indictment was the latest in a series of jolting revelations starting around 2007, when a spate of deadly shootings in the Twin Cities made it impossible to ignore the emergence of Somali gangs. Then came the discovery that more than 20 men had returned to Somalia to fight for Islamic extremists, bringing what many Somalis feel has been harsh and unfair scrutiny from law enforcement and the news media.
“And now it’s this sex ring,” said Zuhur Ahmed, 25, who discusses Somali issues on her weekly program on KFAI community radio in Minneapolis. “Everybody is wondering what’s going to be the next thing.”
And at LAT, "About (Late) Last Night: Natalie Portman, injured on set, is healthy for Oscar season."
Dr. Johnson's interest in Asia began in 1953, after he graduated with an economics degree from the University of California at Berkeley and became an officer in the Navy aboard a landing ship tank, a shallow-bottomed cargo vessel.The full obituary at the link.
During his wartime service, Dr. Johnson's ship ferried North Korean prisoners back across the demarcation line but often experienced mechanical trouble and was sent to Yokohama, Japan, for repairs.
While waiting for the vessel to be fixed, Dr. Johnson bided his time by learning Japanese and examining the country's culture, economy and longtime turbulent relationship with China.
When he returned to Berkeley in 1955, Dr. Johnson began studying political science and immersed himself in texts related to Asia. For his doctoral thesis, Dr. Johnson explored the rise of the Communist party in China, which he claimed was rooted in a contagious zeitgeist of nationalism shared among much of the country's poor.
To illustrate his point, he compared the rise of Communism in China to that of Yugoslavia shortly after the Germans invaded that eastern European country in World War II, where many peasants became fervently nationalistic and mobilized under the Yugoslav Communist party leadership.
He received a doctorate in 1961 and embarked on a year-long Ford Foundation fellowship in Tokyo. During that time, he revised his thesis and in 1962 it was released as a book - "Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power: The Emergence of Revolutionary China, 1937-1945," - the same year he joined the Berkeley political science faculty.
In 1982, Dr. Johnson released "MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975," where he reported on the Japanese government's control over the country's capitalistic market.
It was in the research to that book that Dr. Johnson said he initially became disillusioned with what he would later term "American imperialism" abroad and would lead him "to see clearly for the first time the shape of the empire that I had so long uncritically supported."
PREVIOUSLY: "Casting the Victoria's Secret Show."
OC's ONLY TEEN MEGA CLUB:Plus:All Club dates will be announced on our home page. There will be specific dates throughout the school year. We become weekly during the summer. Club Starz is an all age dance club geared toward the high school crowd. Club Starz is ages 14-19 only. Club Starz serves absolutely NO ALCOHOL. We do have for purchase soda, water and energy drinks. Playing the hottest in Top 40, Techno, Hip Hop, Electro, progressive, house, remixes and mash-ups. You must present your student ID, driver’s license or passport at the door. Our security staff is on duty inside and outside the club the entire evening. Everyone entering Club Starz is searched by security to ensure safety for everyone. We are open rain or shine.
General Dress Code:As long as it's not a rave.No baggy clothing of any kind
No jerseys
No long t-shirts
No excessive amounts of jewelry
No bandanas, du rags, caps, hoodies
Nothing that supports gang attire
No jersey tank tops
No lingerie
Shoes must be worn at all times.
Full-body scans and aggressive pat-downs now under scrutiny are designed to seek out the explosive powder that was used in several failed terrorist bombings recently, officials say.RELATED: At The Hill, "Next step for body scanners could be trains, boats, metro" (via Memeorandum).
New airport security procedures that have stirred the emotions of air travelers — full-body scans and aggressive pat-downs — were largely designed to detect an explosive powder called PETN, which has been a staple of Al Qaeda bomb makers for nearly a decade.
It was PETN that was molded into the sole of Richard Reid's black high-top sneaker when he walked onto American Airlines Flight 63 bound for Miami in December 2001.
It was PETN that was sewn into the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, authorities say, when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 for Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
And it was PETN that suspected Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen packed inside computer printer cartridges that were shipped Oct. 28, intending to blow up planes en route to Chicago.
None of the plots succeeded in taking down an aircraft, but top U.S. officials are concerned about fresh indications that Al Qaeda remains determined to get PETN on airplanes by trying to exploit vulnerabilities in passenger and cargo screening.
Not only has the terrorist network acknowledged its role in bomb plots, it is also sharing what it knows about building bombs on the Web and elsewhere.
PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate, presents some vexing problems for security experts. A powder about the consistency of fine popcorn salt, it will not trigger an alarm on a metal detector. Because of its more stable molecules, PETN gives off less vapor, making it more difficult to detect by bomb-sniffing dogs and the trace swabs used by the Transportation Security Administration.
PETN's stability makes it easy to hide and easily transformed. When mixed with rubber cement or putty, it becomes a rudimentary plastic explosive — a baseball-sized amount can blow a hole in an airplane fuselage.
"PETN is hard to detect and lends itself to being concealed," said an intelligence official who was not authorized to speak on the record. "It packs a punch."
With transportation security officers increasingly under fire from some quarters, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday sent an email to all Transportation Security Administration employees, saying she wanted to "take a moment to personally thank you for the work you are doing to keep the traveling public safe."Meanwhile, at Michelle's, "The no-grope list: Look who gets a junk-touching exemption," and at ABC News, "Airport Pat-Downs: TSA Says it Can Fine You for Backing Out" (via Memeorandum)
"The threats we face in the aviation sector are real and evolving, and we are meeting them with a strong and dynamic response," she said. "Serving on the front lines, you ensure safe and efficient travel for the millions of people who rely on our aviation system every day" ...
"Travelers and the public realize that your job is difficult and demanding," she said. "This holiday season, I am confident you will again demonstrate your commitment to ensuring the safety of the traveling public to everyone who passes through an airport security checkpoint."
She said that as the threats against the United States "continue to evolve, the nation continues to count on you as their last line of defense against terrorism and rely upon you to execute your mission efficiently, professionally and courteously."
North Korea launched a massive artillery barrage on a South Korean island Tuesday, killing two South Korean marines, wounding at least 19 other people and setting more than 60 buildings ablaze in the most serious confrontation since the North's sinking of a South Korean warship in March.RTWT.
South Korea immediately responded with its own artillery fire and put its fighter jets on high alert, bringing the two sides - which technically have remained in a state of war since the Korean armistice in 1953 - close to the brink of a major conflagration.
And from Yonhap News, "Foreign Ministry Accuses N. Korea of Violating Armistice":
South Korea's foreign ministry on Tuesday called North Korea's artillery attack a "clear provocation" that violates multiple agreements between the two nations and instructed all of its overseas missions to be on emergency alert.Also, at WSJ, "North Korea Aggression Sets Major Test for President Obama":
Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said Tuesday's attack violates the inter-Korean armistice, the United Nations Charter and other agreements that call for non-aggression between the two sides.
When America wakes up this morning the world will look to Washington and weigh President Obama’s words. For all China’s growing power, and its status as North Korea’s principal supporter, in an international crisis the U.S. president is still in the hot seat. The situation demands a clear-throated response and a robust commitment to support South Korea that the North Korean government and the Chinese hear properly. The alternative, a load of waffling, won’t be taken seriously by the aggressor.Well, I'm not holding my breath.
RELATED: At ABC News, "John F. Kennedy Assassination Still Intrigues, 47 Years Later: New JFK Documentary and Motion Picture Will Probe Grim Day in Dallas."
President Barack Obama does not deserve a second term, American voters say 49 - 43 percent, and he is in a statistical dead heat with possible Republican challengers Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. President Obama leads Sarah Palin 48 - 40 percent.More at the link.
Romney, Huckabee, Palin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are bunched together when Republican voters are asked who they prefer for the GOP's 2012 presidential nomination, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University survey finds.
Democratic voters say 64 - 27 percent they do not want anyone to challenge President Obama for their party's nomination in 2012.
"The Democratic base remains squarely behind President Barack Obama when it comes to his re-election, but his weakness among independent voters at this point makes his 2012 election prospects uncertain," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"The demographic splits in the electorate when voters are asked whether the president deserves a second term is a roadmap for his re-election strategists on how they need to focus their appeal. Only 39 percent of men, 34 percent of whites, 35 percent of political independents and 38 percent of those over age 35 think he deserves four more years in the Oval Office."
In trial heats for 2012, former Massachusetts Gov. Romney receives 45 percent to 44 percent for Obama, while the president gets 46 percent to 44 percent for Mr. Huckabee. Matched against Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a virtual unknown to most voters, the president leads 45 - 36 percent.
"At this point, former Alaska Gov. Palin runs the worst against President Obama. Daniels is essentially a generic Republican because of his anonymity to most voters. Obama only gets 45 percent against him while he gets 48 percent against Ms. Palin," said Brown. "She is very unpopular among independents and although she recently said she thought she could defeat Obama, the data does not now necessarily support that assertion."
"Unlike Daniels, who is a political unknown to most Americans, virtually all voters have formed an opinion about Palin and that opinion is not encouraging for her candidacy."
It is important to understand the impact of all this debt. As it grows, interest rates inevitably rise. As they do, the U.S. government's annual interest expense -- the cost of borrowing money -- will rise from one percent of GDP to four percent or more. At that point, interest expense would rival defense expenditures. And it would exceed all domestic discretionary spending, a category that includes spending on infrastructure, education, energy, and agriculture -- in effect, anything other than entitlements and national security. The U.S. Treasury would need to borrow a staggering $5 trillion every single year, both to finance deficits and to refinance maturing debt.More at the link.
Yet the real outlook for deficits and debt is much worse than these forecasts. For one thing, the debt that the United States effectively guarantees but that is not included in official totals is almost equal to the Treasury Department's stated $9 trillion total. In particular, the debt of government-sponsored enterprises is another $8 trillion. The biggest of these are the essentially bankrupt housing finance agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They have been placed into federal conservatorship, and for all practical purposes, their debt is equivalent to U.S. Treasury debt. The American taxpayer stands fully behind it.
State and local governments also owe huge amounts, on the order of $3 trillion. And again, Washington indirectly stands behind much or all of it. This sector is deeply distressed, with the largest state, California, recently issuing IOUs. Moreover, many state and municipal pension systems use an antiquated pay-as-you-go funding approach, which has left them underfunded by another $1 trillion.
The post-2020 fiscal outlook is downright apocalyptic, for two reasons. First, the aging of the U.S. population will drive sharp increases in health care costs (and at the same time, more Americans will be retired). Second, federal interest expense will rise exponentially, as the Treasury's borrowing costs grow with the debt. The Congressional Budget Office projects that official federal debt (excluding government-sponsored enterprises) could hit 110 percent of GDP by 2025 and 180 percent by 2035. Adjusting these forecasts for the inevitably slower growth that would accompany such quickly rising debt levels means hitting those stratospheric ratios sooner.
Why is this scenario so dangerous? One reason is that a large amount of federal borrowing would eat up the stock of private capital that is available to finance investment. A higher and higher percentage of personal savings would be diverted to purchasing government debt and away from productivity-enhancing investments in equipment and technology. This would shrink the base of productive capital and flatten GDP and family incomes. As more and more debt piled up, growth would slow and Americans' standard of living would fall.
In addition, interest expense would become so large as to crowd out whole categories of federal spending. Budgets for research, education, and infrastructure, to name but three examples, would inevitably decline in inflation-adjusted terms. Washington's capacity to respond to domestic crises, such as the recent recession, would also fade. All of this would further undermine families' incomes.
You know, I've about had it up to here with the MSM worship of Warren Buffett. With all due respect to an arch-capitalist who's made a considerable pile with his investment philosophy, Buffett is yet another lifelong Democrat who blindly supports creeping socialism without a clue as to how destructive it is. He's sort of like George Soros in sheep's clothing.Via Memeorandum.
More dancing, and beauties, at YankeePhil, "Well it is Sunday, so it is time for Rule 5 Shameless Plugging."
I enjoyed Taylor Swift --- and she's got a hot makeover --- but follow the link for the grade.Katy Perry, "Firework." Like the pyrotechnic toys the song takes its name from, Perry's AMA take is all bombast, no substance. All the cliches needed for a big-event moment were here. Gaggle of singing children? Check (Hey, she can be serious, too! It's not all skimpy outfits and giant fruit). String section? You betcha! At least she didn't sing that "Peacock" thing. D
The thesis proffered here is that, since the end of World War II, the United States has been undergoing a kind of creeping coup in which the growth of an imperial presidency, the development of the CIA as a secret presidential army, the bloating of an outsized military establishment, and a venal and derelict Congress have conspired to undermine the American republic — perhaps irremediably.Much of what Johnson denounces is the Bush administration's advocacy of executive branch supremacy in the realm of national security, manifest, for example, in the adminstration's early policies on the detention and torture of enemy combatants. But Johnson goes too far in making his case, essentially equating the Bush administration's excesses with the totalitarianism of Hitler's Nazi regime. Here's what Rutten says about that analytical overstretch:
Many of the conclusions Johnson teases from his shrewdly assembled and analyzed material are not so convincing. For example, appropriating Hannah Arendt's description of Adolf Eichmann — "desk murderer" — and applying it to Cheney, George W. Bush and Donald H. Rumsfeld isn't just histrionic, it's wrong on the merits, wrong in ways so fundamental that it renders moral judgment itself a uselessly blunt instrument. However horrific events in Iraq have been, they have nothing in common with Hitlerian Germany's "final solution," and it does violence to both reason and history to carelessly suggest otherwise for mere effect.That sounds pretty fair. Rutten goes on to give additional examples of the difficulties of Johnson's analysis. For example, even if the Bush administration succeeded in elevating White House power into an "imperial presidency," the election of a Democratic majority in the November midterms has already started the process of restoring the balance of power among the branches in the federal system. The democracy's not in jeopardy of succumbing to a military dictatorship any time soon, as Rutten ably points out.
On the other hand, when Johnson argues that America "will never again know peace, nor in all probability survive very long as a nation, unless we abolish the CIA, restore intelligence collecting to the State Department, and remove all but purely military functions from the Pentagon," he presents a case that demands consideration.
