Month: July 2009

The Iranian president's deputy, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie, finally steps down after a lengthy standoff between Ahmadinejad and conservative hard-liners. The final straw was a handwritten note from Khamenei himself, which translates:

The appointment of Mr. Esfandyar Rahim-Masha'i as presidential deputy is contrary to your interests and that of the government and a cause for divisions and frustration among your supporters. It is necessary for this appointment to be declared null and void.

Nader Uskowi reacts:

The fiasco has become a major embarrassment for Ahmadinejad who did not expect to come under attach by his natural allies on his very first major decision in post-election Iran.

Juan Cole addresses the issue at length and concludes:

The up side for Khamenei is that even in his weakened state he won on this point. The down side is that some the people have been chanting 'down with the dictator,' and Khamenei has played into their hands by demonstrating himself to be high-handed and to be to the right of Ahmadinejad.

This episode has certainly disabused those who believed that Khamenei was in some way more reasonable and accommodating than Ahmadinejad. Ahmadi was trying to appease the opposition in some ways. Khamenei's dictatorship is uninterested in anything like that. And he, remember, is in charge of foreign policy.

Peter Berkowitz explains something that Mark Levin cannot understand.

How many gay people have you personally fired this past month for the sole crime of their sexual orientation?

When you see Jamie Kirchick embracing John Hagee as a stalwart defender of Greater Israel and the coming Apocalypse, you get a sense where the Republican far-right is heading. Eric Cantor's recent speech was, however, even more chilling. Get a load of this:

Forget national interest; the point of politics is religious warfare. That's Cantor's point. Muslim-Americans are not "real Americans". Nor are atheists. And the foreign policy of a multicultural country with a First Amendment must be dictated by the doctrines of two religions (which differ profoundly on many first order religious questions). And then, in Arkansas, the home base for Cantor's "conservatism" we hear a Republican Senate candidate explain his worldview:

"When I joined the military I took an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic," Reynolds said. "I never thought it would be domestic, but in today's world I do believe we have enemies here. It's time for people to stand up. It's time for us to speak out." He added: "We need someone to stand up to Barack Obama and his policies. We must protect our culture, our Christian identity."

I'm still razzed by what's left of the right for arguing that the root of American conservatism's problems is the political abuse of faith. But every day, it seems to get worse.

Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok disagree with Krugman.

David Frum points out:

Sarah Palin’s most notable achievement as governor of Alaska was to increase the payout from the state’s energy tax take by $1200 per resident. Isn’t it odd then that she would use her farewell address to warn against the danger of government handouts?

Calama, Chile, 5 pm

"Legalization [of marijuana] is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine," – Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Ezra Klein editorializes on health care. This is an important point:

In the modern health-care system, there is no higher power than the insurance market. And the insurers who populate that market have grown all the stronger. The Justice Department judges an industry "highly concentrated" if a single company controls more than 42 percent of the market. By that definition, 94 percent of statewide insurance markets are highly concentrated. A recent study by the advocacy organization Health Care for America Now showed that in Indiana, WellPoint controls 60 percent of the insurance market; in Iowa, Wellmark accounts for 71 percent; and in Alabama, Blue Cross/Blue Shield holds 83 percent. In the past 13 years, there have been more than 400 corporate mergers involving health insurers.

Economics textbooks tell us that concentrated markets reduce the competitive behavior that benefits consumers and lead to outsize profits for the dominant firms. Predictably, health-care premiums shot up more than 90 percent between 2000 and 2007, while the profits of the 10 largest insurers increased 428 percent over the same period. Clinton had promised us managed care within managed competition. Instead, the insurers took control of our care and managed to effectively end competition. Neat trick.

"Duran's conduct … suggests a possible motive for his detention, one upon which law enforcement officers may not legitimately rely.  The Durans contend, and the district court held, that Aguilar stopped their car at least partly in retaliation for the insult he received from Duran. If true, this would constitute a serious First Amendment violation. "[T]he First Amendment protects a significant amount of verbal criticism and challenge directed at police officers." Hill, 482 U.S. at 461, 107 S.Ct. at 2509.

The freedom of individuals to oppose or challenge police action verbally without thereby risking arrest is one important characteristic by which we distinguish ourselves from a police state. Id. at 462-63, 107 S.Ct. at 2510.

Thus, while police, no less than anyone else, may resent having obscene words and gestures directed at them, they may not exercise the awesome power at their disposal to punish individuals for conduct that is not merely lawful, but protected by the First Amendment. > 17 > Inarticulate and crude as Duran's conduct may have been, it represented an expression of disapproval toward a police officer with whom he had just had a run-in. As such, it fell squarely within the protective umbrella of the First Amendment and any action to punish or deter such speech–such as stopping or hassling the speaker–is categorically prohibited by the Constitution," – Alex Kozinski, in a 1999 ruling here.

The difference between real conservatism and the police-state authoritarianism now cherished by Cheney Republicans has rarely been better explained. You live in a free country. The police are your employees. You pay their salary.