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AT THE LATEST ANGEL'S CORNER – THE NAMING OF THE FIRST RECIPIENT OF URGENT AGENDA'S HOPELESS CLOWN AWARD, EVEN HIGHER THAN OUR POMPOUS FOOL AWARD. 

JULY 29,  2011

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:02 P.M. ET:

BOEHNER BILL PASSES HOUSE – In a largely symbolic vote, the House tonight passed the Boehner debt-reduction bill.  It will be sent to the Senate, where Harry Reid promises to kill it instantly, which will happen.  There is also a Reid proposal floating around.  The major, and alarming, difference between the Boehner and the Reid is that the Reid Democratic proposal guts the Defense Department, a dream of the left wing of the Democratic Party.  Fortunely, enough Republicans have retained their sanity and are pledged to block any such grossly irresponsible act.  Boehner's proposal passed with 218 votes, two more than needed.  Some 22 Republicans, mostly from the Tea Party, voted against it.  Included among the 22 was Michele Bachmann.  We are now four days from the August 2nd default deadline, with no proposal out there capable of winning both houses of Congress.  Look for 'round-the-click talks.  If we had a real president, those talks would be in the White House, behind locked doors and with plenty of cigar smoke.

OBAMA HITS NEW GALLUP LOW – President Obama today hit his lowest approval number in the Gallup tracker – 40%.  Approval among independents stands at 34%.  By contrast, Rasmussen, sometimes accused of being a GOP-leaning pollster, has Obama's approval at 46%, with 54% disapproving.  We caution that numbers like this do not automatically translate into support for Republicans, who also are taking a hit in the polls.  There's a kind of "plague on both your houses" attitude among many Americans.

SPAIN GOING TO EARLY ELECTIONS – Spain is in desperate economic shape, and is run by a prime minister who is aloof to the United States and our interests.  Today Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, under pressure, moved elections scheduled for next March forward to this November.  It is critical for America that Zapatero's socialists be tossed out, and replaced by the conservative opposition.  Spain had been one of America's strongest allies in the war on terror until the great Prime Minister José María Aznar was defeated in 2004, after the Madrid train bombings. 

VULGAR – The United Nations, which long ago outlived its usefulness as a "peace" organization, is at it again.  Despite the horror of what is going on in Syria, with citizens shot in the street for protesting, while others quietly disappear after dark, the U.N. is extending its development partnership with the brutal Assad regime.  Hey, what's a couple of thousand bodies in the street?  This comes as some Western democracies, whose response is weak enough, are imposing some sanctions on Syria in an attempt to get the government to change.  Some chance.  Reports out of Syria say 20 more protesters were killed today.

July 29, 2011       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:09 A.M. ET:  Just about everyone is looking with dismay at what is happening in Washington.  First-class political writer Charlie Cook sums it up, at National Journal:

Washington is now sullying America’s long-deserved reputation as the leading country in the world to such an extent that we are becoming a laughingstock. The renowned, late journalist A.J. Liebling, a fixture for many years in The New Yorker and a chronicler of then-Louisiana Gov. Earl Long, once wrote that the home state I share with Long was “the northernmost of the banana republics.” If Liebling were alive today, he might expand his “northernmost” banana republic to include the whole United States, with Washington as its sorry capital. My guess is that most members of Congress and their aides are too close to the process and don’t fully appreciate what they are doing to themselves, the institution, and the nation’s political process.

Very well said.

COMMENT:  I have an idea.  It won't be accepted, but I think it's valid.  If Barack Obama were smart, and I mean really smart in a practical, common-sense, adult-thinking way, he would go before the American people and say this:

"My fellow Americans, we are in a serious crisis.  It is so serious that it goes beyond any political or personal consideration.  This crisis cannot be solved if you, the citizens of the country, believe that all we are interested in here is our own personal futures.  This must be above politics.  Therefore, as leader of the nation, I am announcing that I will not be a candidate for reelection next year.  I will devote all my efforts to solving the problems before us, never being diverted or influenced by personal or political goals."

That would be a wise, statesmanlike thing to do.  Lyndon Johnson did it in 1968.  I think Obama's ego is too strong for him to consider such a course, but maybe Michelle can nudge him, and ask him why he'd want a second term anyway.  Second terms are almost always worse than the first, and the first has been bad enough.  If Obama declines to run, he has a shot at going out like a statesman.  If he stays, the mess will likely grow larger.

July 29, 2011       Permalink 

DEAD DEBT DEBATE – AT 9:38 A.M. ET:  America is set to default on its debts this coming Tuesday...at least that's what the papers say.  Right now there is no plan on the table in Congress that has any chance of passing.  From Bloomberg:

House Republican leaders, four days before a threatened U.S. default and facing stiff resistance within their ranks to raising the U.S. debt ceiling, plan to make a second try at passing legislation that is headed for a Senate roadblock.

Republicans led by House Speaker John Boehner were forced to scrap action on the measure late last night. They are considering a rewrite for a second time this week after face-to- face meetings with recalcitrant lawmakers failed to yield the votes to push it through the House.

Skeptics concerned that the plan wouldn’t do enough to rein in the debt were insisting on conditioning part of the borrowing boost on congressional passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

The measure should be amended to “something transformative that transcends election cycles and has some degree of permanency to it,” said Republican Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a freshman opponent of the measure who met with House leaders for three hours last night as they struggled unsuccessfully to build support for the bill.

The delay was a setback for Boehner and his leadership team, forcing them to delay a vote until today. They implored Republicans to back a measure that President Barack Obama’s advisers have said he would veto and Senate leaders promised to quickly defeat. 

COMMENT:  It is a complete mess.  The president, reduced to observer status in the cheap seats, has essentially been escorted out of the debate.  The Dems have no real plan to deal with our vast overspending. 

Speaker Boehner has done good work trying to fashion a compromise, while maintaining national defense, but has failed to convince enough of his Republican flock to back it.  His plan is far from perfect, but is the best one presented thus far that has any chance of being used as the basis for practical negotiations.

I admire much of what the Tea Party has done in bringing our profligacy to the fore as a major issue, but the Tea Party is a movement, not a political party.  It has no responsibility for governing, and acts accordingly.  Today, major Tea Party leaders have begun to threaten Republican congressmen who are supporting Boehner.  Real cute.  Real smart.  Why not divide the GOP even further and let Obama walk into a second term?  These are people who relish their own purity the night after they lose elections.  I'd prefer a little impurity and a victory in 2012.

As for a balanced budget amendment, it has no chance whatever.  It is something to be taken up later, when we see a realistic end to the current fiscal crisis.

There are some who argue that this is a golden moment to correct the mistakes of the past.  It is not.  It is a serious crisis that must be dealt with to avoid this nation going into default, prompting a possible new recession, and certainly prompting a downgrading of our credit status.  Then, after the immediate problem is solved, Republicans and Democrats of good will must get down to work, 'round the clock, and fashion long-term plans to save this country economically.  And Republicans must unite for victory. 

If we had a real president, this could have been avoided.  The presidency, as Jack Kennedy said, is the center of action.  It is the central pivot in time of crisis.  This president, a glorified town councilman with a golden voice, has abdicated. 

July 29, 2011       Permalink 

INTO THE ABYSS – AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  A new, stunning economic report out this morning shows how bad things really are.  There's no getting around these numbers.

(Reuters) - The U.S. economy came perilously close to flat-lining in the first quarter and grew at a meager 1.3 percent annual rate in the April-June period as consumer spending barely rose.

The Commerce Department data on Friday also showed the current lull in the economy began earlier than had been thought, with the growth losing steam late last year.

That could raise questions on the long held view by both Federal Reserve officials and independent economists that the slowdown in growth as the year started was largely the result of transitory factors.

Growth in gross domestic product -- a measure of all goods and services produced within U.S. borders - rose at a 1.3 percent annual rate. First-quarter output was sharply revised down to a 0.4 percent pace from a 1.9 percent increase.

Economists had expected the economy to expand at a 1.8 percent rate in the second quarter. Fourth-quarter growth was revised to a 2.3 percent rate from 3.1 percent.

"The second quarter disappointed, but the first-quarter downward revision is more disturbing. It advances the pangs of concern. The debt ceiling nonsense is not going to help us. We're already in an economy that is subpar," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

COMMENT:  This will only add to the gloom, and the uncertainty among those who hire people.  Translation:  Fewer job opportunities, less growth in the future. 

Add to this the antics on Washington over the debt ceiling.  The American people are getting the impression that we have 1) a dysfunctional president who doesn't even understand his job; 2) two political parties in Congress that are also dysfunctional and lack the statesmanship to get the job done.

One thing I fear here is the emergence of a third party on the right, like the Ross Perot faction in 1992, that will make it impossible for us to elect a new president next year.  I think this fear will grow if both parties continue to perform as they're performing right now.  That development could be a far greater danger to the GOP than anything else. 

Can you just imagine the result if this country reelects the hopelessly incompetent Obama next year?  Think about it.  ut the cash under the mattress.

July 29, 2011       Permalink 

FORT HOOD – AT 8:53 A.M. ET:  We are now learning more about the very close call we had yesterday at Fort Hood.  An alert gun shop clerk called authorities after observing a customer acting suspiciously.  That clerk may well have saved many lives.  From WaPo:

A U.S. soldier who was accused Thursday of planning to attack troops near Fort Hood, Tex., has told investigators that he was acting in support of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who has been charged in the killing of 13 people at the base in 2009, according to congressional and federal officials.

Pfc. Naser Abdo, 21, was arrested in Killeen, Tex., after authorities said they discovered bombmaking materials in his motel room, as well as a copy of an article from the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire, which is produced by the terrorist group’s Yemen affiliate.

The officials said Abdo was planning to set off bombs at locations outside the base where soldiers gather and to follow the explosions with gunfire...

....The emergence of another alleged plot to attack troops at the same base where Hasan is accused of striking may intensify fears that there is a growing terrorist threat from self-radicalized Americans and raise questions about whether the military can adequately identify internal threats. Hasan was arraigned in military court this month on capital murder charges but has not entered a plea.

The Washington Post has done a good, forthright job of reporting this story, and has given it prominence.  By contrast, a check of this morning's front page (online) of The New York Times does not find the story present at all.  Not at all.  A tale of two liberal newspapers – one trying to do the right thing and report the news, the other falling into disgrace once again.

July 29, 2011      Permalink

JULY 28,  2011

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:55 P.M. ET:

HOUSE VOTE DELAYED – The House vote on the Boehner debt plan, expected for this evening, has been delayed.  It's pretty clear that the House GOP is divided, with some Tea Partiers refusing to vote for the plan.  Right now Boehner doesn't have the votes to pass it, which is certainly humiliating.  If this persists, the split in the party can become bitter, essentially squandering last November's victory at the polls.

POLL CONFIRMS OBAMA SLIPPAGE AMONG INDIES – A Pew Research poll, which earlier in the year reported that President Obama had an 11-point lead over a generic Republican among registered voters, now reports that lead down to one point.  The change is driven by a sharp drop in support for the president among independents.  Just 31% of independent voters want to see Obama reelected, down from 42% in May.

JACKSON JOINS THE RACE CARD PLAYERS – Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois is the latest black leader to claim that President Obama is being treated differently than past presidents on the debt issue.  Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas made the same change on the floor of the House last week.  I suspect these are previews of coming attractions.  The race card will be played in the 2012 election, first to bring out the minority vote, and, second, to make white voters feel guilty about turning out of office the nation's first black president.  If the playing of the card only affects three or four percent of the vote, that is enough, quite often, to swing a presidential election.

STYLISH ACCIDENT – As we struggle to pay our bills, others struggle to drive with reasonable care.  In Monte Carlo, according to London's Daily Mail, the driver of a Bentley caused a five-car pileup, colliding with a Mercedes, a Ferrari, a Porsche, and an Aston Martin.  Even if she switches to GEICO, I don't think she'll be saving much money on her next premium payment.  But we know she's in good hands.

July 28, 2011     Permalink

MOST WONDERFUL NEWS – AT 5:24 P.M. ET:  Our very gracious former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that she has not forgotten her subjects:

"What we're trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We're trying to save life on this planet as we know it today."

I am just so relieved.  Aren't you?  Here, I'd thought we little people were forgotten in Washington, but our Nancy comes along to assure us that the entire world will be saved.  Imagine that!

And so will life on our planet. 

I will go to bed more easily tonight knowing Nancy is on watch.  Please send her a list of things you want saved.  Start with hamburgers, ice cream, and Hayek's "Road to Serfdom."  Watch her race for the Zoloft.

July 28, 2011       Permalink

BULLETIN:  FORT HOOD UPDATE – AT 5:17 P.M. ET:    We are updating our earlier snippet about an arrest of an Army soldier.  Disturbing details are emerging.  From Fox:

An Army private has been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to attack Fort Hood that authorities suggest was close to being carried out. The arrest, first reported by Fox News, comes nearly two years after a deadly shooting rampage at the base.

Pvt. Naser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell in Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood and remains in custody at the Killeen jail.

Abdo, 21, was found with weapons, explosives and jihadist materials at the time of his arrest, a senior Army source confirms to Fox News. He was arrested at around 2 p.m. Wednesday after someone called authorities to report a suspicious individual.

Eric Vasys, a spokesman with the FBI's San Antonio Office, said authorities found firearms and bomb making components inside Abdo's motel room. Sources also say Abdo was attempting to make a purchase at Guns Galore in Killeen, the same ammunition store where Maj. Nidal Hasan purchased weapons that were allegedly used to gun down 13 people and wound 30 others at the base on Nov. 5, 2009.

Sources said Abdo had enough materials to make two bombs, including 18 pounds of sugar and six pounds of smokeless gunpowder -- a possible trigger for an explosive. A pressure cooker was also found. Another counterterrorism source said the bomb making materials and methodology came "straight out of Inspire (a terrorist magazine) and an Al Qaeda explosives course manual."

COMMENT:  But remember, we must understand his culture and not rush to judgment.  He may have had legitimate grievances.  Who are we to judge? 

Get your seasickness pills.

July 28, 2011        Permalink

THE DEBT-LIMIT DEBATE – AT 11:03 A.M. ET:  The House is scheduled to vote today on the Boehner plan.  While far from perfect, the plan is the only practical proposal currently on the table that our side might be able to support.  The vote is expected to be close.

Even if passed, the plan has little chance of getting through the Democratic-controlled Senate.  But by passing it, the House would give life to an actual plan, not a theory, and negotiations might result. 

House Speaker John Boehner and his Republican deputies are in a fight to the buzzer to round up enough support to pass his deficit-reduction bill, as the House begins arguably the most harrowing series of votes in his tenure -- with the nation's borrowing power, the economy and everybody's interest rates in the balance.
As Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said over the weekend, the administration did not expect Congress to come this close to the Aug. 2 deadline. That's the date when the country will no longer be able to pay all its bills without a debt-ceiling increase, according to Treasury, risking the possibility of default.

While some conservatives balk at the Boehner plan as not going far enough in spending cuts, others point out that it has one significant advantage over other ideas being floated – it maintains American military power.  From NRO:

As House Republicans debate whether to support the Boehner debt-limit package, one key issue is getting overlooked in the debate: Unlike the alternatives presented by Democrats and bipartisan commissions, the Boehner plan avoids significant defense cuts, making it the best option for conservatives concerned about U.S. national security.

For decades, Republicans have been viewed by voters as the party of national security. Voters have come to trust the Grand Old Party to keep Americans safe and maintain America’s defenses. In the 1980s, President Reagan bucked political pressure to cut defense, instead conducting a defense buildup that led to victory in the Cold War and pulled America out of what he called Carter’s “world of make-believe.” Pres. George H. W. Bush helped orchestrate the emergence of a Europe whole and free, and ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

In contrast, significant cuts to the defense and intelligence budgets by President Clinton in the name of deficit reduction left the United States unprepared for the challenges posed by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently said at his confirmation hearing, the Clinton approach “might not have been the best way to achieve those savings.”

COMMENT:  Panetta has emerged as a pretty solid guy in the tradition of the old Democratic Party, which cared about national defense.  By contrast, as the article later points out, some Republicans, lured by the desire for deficit reduction, seem prepared to abandon traditional Republican support for a strong military, in favor of short-term budget gains. 

We had four military drawdowns in the 20th century, and lived to regret each one.  Do we learn from history, or just forget it?

July 28, 2011       Permalink

SNIPPET – AT 10:35 A.M. ET:

From Fox:   At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another possible attack on Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.  Pvt. Nasser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood and remains in custody there. Authorities, however, will not say if Abdo is the one who raised security concerns.  Abdo was allegedly found with explosives and jihadist materials at the time of his arrest, a senior Army source confirms to Fox News. He was arrested Wednesday afternoon after someone called authorities to report a suspicious individual.

We'll follow this.  I'd love to see how the mainstream media handles the story, or if it even reports it. 

ACTION IN ATLANTA – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:  The Atlanta school system has been the focus of unwanted attention recently, amidst revelations that widespread cheating led to the false impression that students were making more progress than they actually were. 

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Public Schools employees implicated in a widespread cheating scandal are getting notices that they've been put on paid administrative leave.

The notices sent out to teachers and others are among the steps the district must take as it begins to sort through each employee's case.

Superintendent Erroll Davis, who has been adamant that none of the employees will work in front of the district's students again, says he plans to start termination proceedings as quickly as he can.

A state report released earlier this month implicated educators in 44 schools for cheating on state tests. District officials say 41 of the educators suspected of cheating have already quit or retired.

And I'm sure those retirement benefits are generous.  A newly released study reports that the older students get, the more likely they are to believe cheating is acceptable:

Kids start to think cheating is OK as they get older, according to new data from surveys given to Fairfax County students in the sixth, eighth and 12th grades.

They're also less likely to be honest with their parents, and more likely to steal and ignore rules "that get in my way."

And...

In grade six, 97 percent of students responded "No" to the statement "I think sometimes it is OK to cheat at school." By the eighth grade, only 82 percent said no to cheating, and just 61 percent of high school seniors said the same.

"I wouldn't say it's expected -- we certainly want this as close to 100 percent as we can, especially for honesty and responsibility," said school board member Sandra Evans, who represents the Mason District and serves on the steering committee of the Northern Virginia Healthy Kids Coalition. "We need to find out why is that happening, before we can figure out what exactly we need to do."

COMMENT:  We're told that cheating is a national epidemic.  I'm afraid that isn't new.  We have had cheating scandals of one kind or another, going back as far as I can remember.  Even West Point, which enforces a strict honor code, had a major cheating scandal in 1949, and had to release 90 cadets. 

Perhaps the major difference between then and now is in attitude.  Today, a disturbing number of people accept cheating, and we also hear the comment, "Everybody does it."  It's apparently considered normal in some circles.  We might reflect on the kind of society we're building for the children, and what we have taught them.  I'm afraid that here we must indict the sixties generation, some of whose leading lights told us that ethics are relative, that values are oppressive, and that "if it feels good, do it." 

But they're not the only ones.  Harry Truman became famous as a senator by investigating corruption in the defense industry during World War II.  The Truman Committee launched him as a national figure.  But at least then the nation understood that what some contractors was doing was wrong. 

We've slipped.

July 28, 2011        Permalink

OUR EYE OFF THE BALL - AT 9:04 A.M. ET:  We regularly remind readers that we're taking our eye off the foreign-policy ball in focusing exclusively on economic issues.  But enemies and potential enemies won't take their eye off us.

What's happening in the Mideast is extraordinary, and tragic.  It will have implications for us for years to come, and yet the story is off the front page.  Consider:

BEIRUT (AP) — A global campaigning organization said Thursday that one person disappears in Syria every hour and that almost 3,000 people have gone missing since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad more than four months ago.

The online activist group Avaaz.org said its investigation has identified 2,918 Syrians who were arrested or abducted by force by security troops and whose whereabouts are now unknown.

The group published the results of its probe in a statement, which was e-mailed to The Associated Press. It also kicked off a campaign called "Save Syria's Disappeared" on its website Thursday.

"Hour by hour, peaceful protesters are plucked from crowds by Syria's infamously brutal security forces, never to be seen again," said Ricken Patel, executive director at Avaaz.

The group called on the international community to step up demands for the release of the disappeared and for a transition to democracy in Syria.

Syrian activists say more than 1,600 people — most of them unarmed protesters — have been killed by security forces since the revolt against Assad's rule erupted in mid-March.

COMMENT:  Syria is one of the most important of Arab countries.  The protests against the government are growing, especially on Fridays, after prayers.  Syria holds the key to what happens in Lebanon.  It is Iran's greatest ally in the Arab world.  It threatens Israel.  Yet America seems substantially diverted.

We'd better get our eye back on the ball.  We can walk and chew gum at the same time.

July 28, 2011       Permalink

A SLIGHT RAY OF LIGHT – AT 8:48 A.M. ET:  Rarely do we get any good economic news, and this bulletin has to be viewed cautiously, but at least one number is heading in the right direction...at least for a week.  From Bloomberg:

Applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since April, a sign the weakness in the labor market is abating.

Jobless claims fell by 24,000 to 398,000 in the week ended July 23, fewer than forecast, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for a drop to 415,000. There were no special factors associated with the decrease other than the usual volatility that occurs each year in July, a Labor Department spokesman said.

Many economists believe that the number must fall below 400,000 for any real jobs progress to be possible.  It did this week, but I wouldn't break out the champagne.  We'd have to see a trend over a period of weeks, or months.

A reduction in firings is a necessary step toward the point when employers are more willing to add workers. The lack of hiring means the unemployment rate will probably keep hovering near 9 percent, restraining consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

COMMENT:  The administration will probably gloat a bit about this slight improvement, but with the strong possibility that the credit rating of the U.S. will be downgraded, the Obamans might try to be careful about making claims. Downgrading would produce substantial uncertainty in the economy, to add to the uncertainty already there, and uncertainty means further job losses.

July 28, 2011     Permalink