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   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
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March 30, 2009
By: MONDAY'S MINI REPORT... I'm going to take a shot at this. Here's today's edition of quick hits: * The market did not take kindly to the President's plan for the auto industry, with the Dow dropping a little over 3%. * Another terrorist strike in Pakistan, as militants dressed as policemen stormed a police academy and left at least 20 dead. Pakistani authorities blamed Taliban-aligned elements. These brazen attacks have occurred with increasing frequency in Pakistan in recent weeks. * The White House released a report today called The Cost of Inaction, detailing the perilous state of the US health care system and the need to act immediately to control costs and provide maximum coverage. Some good facts and figures inside this document. * Mitch McConnell keeps saying that Obama is turning America into France. Sacre bleu! Now McConnell is one person I wouldn't mind to see "going Galt." * Nearly 7 in 10 major weapons-buying programs were over-budget in 2008. When the President talks about reining in the contracting process, this is what he's talking about. * DougJ caught this moment of clarity from Evan Thomas in his largely substance-free profile of Paul Krugman: "If you are of the establishment persuasion (and I am), reading Krugman makes you uneasy ... Members of the ruling class have a vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are. Safeguarding the status quo, protecting traditional institutions, can be healthy and useful, stabilizing and reassuring. But sometimes, beneath the pleasant murmur and tinkle of cocktails, the old guard cannot hear the sound of ice cracking." That's a good thing to know about the establishment media. It should be in every single one of their stories as a boilerplate at the top. * Is the current chair of the DNC, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, really going to sign a ban on stem cell research funding in his state? * One of the lawyers in the Spanish case against Bush Administration members, Gonzalo Boye, had a good retort to Douglas Feith's complaining about the possible indictment: "I would recommend that Mr. Feith first of all read the complaint, and secondly that he get a very good lawyer ... If he is so sure of what he is saying - then the address of the national court is #22 Genova Street, second floor.” * President Obama signed the omnibus lands bill today providing for 2 million more acres of protected wilderness. * I do indeed hope that at the very least we can relax the travel ban with Cuba, as it serves no legitimate purpose for either nation. Neither does the embargo. * Talks on reducing nuclear arsenals between the United States and Russia is also change I can believe in. * Fox News launched a conservative Web site today called "Fox Nation". I guess that they won't be offering comments, since Andrew Breitbart explained today that Obama supporters have been unleashed on right-wing comment sections, forcing sites like Instapundit to close them retroactively years before Obama became President. This is something that John McCain would never pay supporters to do. * And for those uninitiated to Twitter, and inclined to, well, hate it, you will find this cartoon amusing and educational. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread. And thanks again to Steve for having me here these past few days; I hope he comes back refreshed and rarin' to go. I would be remiss without mentioning the sites you can find me posting on a daily basis: Hullabaloo with the incomparable Digby; Thanks! —dday 7:45 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (25)Comments
No more European vacations for former Bush officials; any EU country might be obliged to hand Feith or Yoo or Gonzales over to the Spanish. Even those not on the list would have to fear the unsealing of an indictment while they're on a plane. Posted by: Joe Buck on March 30, 2009 at 7:55 PM | PERMALINKFourth conviction for murder in Scott Beauchamp's old unit after Mayo pleaded guilty to shooting handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqi men in the back of the head. But remember, they never ran over a dog, so there's that. Posted by: shortstop on March 30, 2009 at 8:05 PM | PERMALINKI campaigned for Tim Kaine (as I have for VA Dems and national tickets since 1992) and will be very disappointed if he signs on to the stem-cell ban. VA Dems can be more conservative than the national average (I admit me too overall) but I can't support him doing that. (By golly that crawling eyebrow-caterpillar graphic creeps me out!) And I hope I'm not overbeating this, but I'd like to see some insight into the Ashley Biden cocaine video story. There seem to be holes in the story, dday and publius, Typically, land that is set aside in wilderness isn't the most productive of the lot--the old "ice and rocks" scenario. George Bush could have pushed for at least a token wilderness/environmental bill to be passed by Congress and then inked it into law, if only to give his legacy some weak claim on being ecologically friendly. "Hey," he could say, "I increased the amount of land preserved in wilderness in America by the size of Delaware, and then some!" But the asshat couldn't even do that. Bravo, Obama. You have done more for environmentalism (and the scientific community, I might add) in a few weeks in office than Bush did in eight years. Posted by: castanea on March 30, 2009 at 8:18 PM | PERMALINKMitch McConnell keeps saying that Obama is turning America into France. "Crow, what is it with you and the French?!?" Posted by: Mnemosyne on March 30, 2009 at 8:27 PM | PERMALINK"Hey," he could say, "I increased the amount of land preserved in wilderness in America by the size of Delaware, and then some!" He did one or two big preserves way out in the pacific ocean, so he is way ahead of you. I think the later one was actually like 50 times the size of Delaware. Posted by: Jeff Fisher on March 30, 2009 at 8:32 PM | PERMALINKOh, good, an open thread. I saw Rudy Krause from the Wally George show in a supermarket yesterday. Pretty damn sure. Posted by: godoggo on March 30, 2009 at 9:46 PM | PERMALINKI don't have a problem with McConnell saying Obama is trying to turn the US into France, I've been saying the Republicans are trying to turn the US into Mexico since Ronnie took office. Posted by: Th on March 30, 2009 at 10:36 PM | PERMALINKThese brazen attacks have occurred with increasing frequency in Pakistan in recent weeks. If the ISI is supporting the Taliban, we have to ask what do they gain by this? It undermines civil authority in Pakistan. To what end? Posted by: alan on March 30, 2009 at 10:53 PM | PERMALINKOur nation is nation-sized, not small-sized. Your problems are national problems, not local problems. Posted by: alan on March 30, 2009 at 10:59 PM | PERMALINKWhich thing has just now added a second thing just after it. Posted by: alan on March 31, 2009 at 12:03 AM | PERMALINK
I lifted this comment from Thinkprogress: PatrioticLiberalChristianMantisReligiosa Says: Gonzalez: Did you write a memo supporting torture by the US? Priceless. If Obama thinks "The Cost of Inaction" is substantial, how about "The Cost of Ignoring Public Option Possibilities, Like Single-Payer"? Or, we can keep shoveling money at an industry that's already extorted plenty under false promises for years. Oh, I'm sorry; I've confused Wall Street with the managed health industry, and actually, for that matter, also the Democratic Party, home of Harry Reid and his famously effective policy of continuing to let his caucus shit on the concept of party loyalty in pursuit of campaign contributions, media masturbation and the ultimate goal of the political-media complex, sabotaging progressive - or even simply sane - public policy by any means necessary. Posted by: Chris on March 31, 2009 at 1:26 AM | PERMALINK. Wall St is up, America is down. Who cares about Wall St? What difference does it make? Nationalize it, clean out the rats' nest. Many thanks to d-day and publius for sitting in and doing such a fine job these past few days. Reading you here has been a real pleasure. Posted by: beep52 on March 31, 2009 at 4:04 AM | PERMALINKWell done, dday. Just so Mr. Benen knows, the mini-reports are one of the things that bring me back every day. Posted by: R. Stanton Scott on March 31, 2009 at 5:41 AM | PERMALINK* Fox News launched a conservative Web site today called "Fox Nation". Kurtz gave one hell of a tongue bath to a site that didn't even exist yet when he wrote the story! I guess populist outrage is worthy of positive comment when it comes from the right, even when the vehicle for the outrage isn't even on the road yet. Wonder when Kurtz is going to give similar adulation to some well-established left-leaning websites. Oh, that would be never. Posted by: low-tech cyclist on March 31, 2009 at 5:59 AM | PERMALINKSo McConnell says we will be turning into France - wow, the best healthcare system in the world, free university education for our kids, we should be so lucky. I love the fact that in France the CEO's who are laying off the workers get held hostage until they shape up. Now that is democracy you can depend on! Posted by: JS on March 31, 2009 at 7:58 AM | PERMALINKTwitter: a form of communication used by twits. Posted by: Jennifer on March 31, 2009 at 8:37 AM | PERMALINKOf course Mitch became worried when Elaine came home and suggested a menage might help. Yes, Shrub did little for the wilderness, but, it was Senator Coburn(R)OK, who blocked several bi-partisan wilderness measures. He stopped one in the State of Washington for several years, and opposed the Mt Hood Wilderness which had been presented by both the RepuG Sen. Smith and Democratic Senator Wyden. Posted by: berttheclock on March 31, 2009 at 10:06 AM | PERMALINKWell done, D-Day. If not for the different font, I might have thought Steve came back to do the daily roundup. Very Benenesque. Posted by: TG Chicago on March 31, 2009 at 12:47 PM | PERMALINK
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