Month: November 2009

Tyler Cowen, who is against the current health care bill, lists his desired reforms. Austin Frakt adds:

Any health reform passed this year (or next) is unlikely to include Cowen’s cost-related suggestions or any other serious measures to reduce costs. That’s why the current debate over health reform is just the beginning–call it Health Reform Debate 1.0 (beta). Debate 2.0 will be about costs, specifically about payment reform.

Drum chimes in:

Agreed. Coverage first, cost controls second. It would be great to do it all at once, but politically there's really no alternative to the way we're doing now.

Douthat is on Cowen's side. I'd love a polity in which a real conservative told people that costs should be controlled first before anyone gets insurance extended to them. The idea is to make the prize conditional on the sacrifice.

But there is no conservative voice like that in American politics day, if by conservative you mean a politician eager to tell the public to take its fiscal medicine. The rot started with Reagan, but it has gotten steadily worse.

I had hope with Gingrich in 1994 but a decade later, with the GOP in full control of everything, they exploded spending and passed Medicare D whose unbudgeted costs (though better than expected) make Obama's fiscally neutral (according to the CBO) health insurance reform seem like peanuts. I long for an American Thatcher – someone with real brains, real courage and an ability to tell Americans they need to buckle under, pay more taxes and slash entitlement spending.

But we have no Thatcher. By default, then, I side with Obama. The GOP has no serious plan to expand insurance coverage and no serious plan to restrain costs. Obama at least says he's serious about cost control, there are some cost control mechanisms (that need strengthening) in the Senate bill, and we can hold him accountable for fiscal restraint in the coming year and thereafter.

In politics, it's always the least worst option. And in my judgment on that criterion, given a need to do something, Obama is simply the only credible one we have. Give him a chance but hold him accountable for the fiscal results. And soon.

TNR and Slate are on the job.

A reader writes:

Um:

When she got off the bus, wearing her familiar uniform of black skirt, high heels and red blazer, she waved with one hand and held her son Trig, dressed in a striped green sweater, in the other. The group erupted in applause. She walked to a small platform in the middle of the crowd, said "Thank you so much for showing up," and handed Trig to an aide.

What is the point of carrying the baby to the platform and then handing him to an aide? Why not leave him on the bus with an aide? Is he just a prop?

Of course he's a prop. Treating a child this way is a political decision. Just as publicly calling the father of her grandson a porn star is a political decision. And that tells you a lot about this person's character and what really motivates her.

Damon Linker calls out the Dish and other Palin obsessives:

Criticism has its place, of course. And yet, on Palin I’ve come to favor a different approach—one that refuses to collude with the media-driven farce. To respond to an opponent, even harshly, even rudely, is to accord her a certain respect—to treat her as worthy of a response. But Palin is worthy of no such thing. She stands for nothing beyond her own self-promotion. She craves attention, and negative attention is a form of attention. Even ridicule can be a form of flattery. Better to bow out, to decline the provocation, since responding to her perpetuates and legitimates the illusion that she’s a serious player in our nation’s politics. I, for one, refuse to play that silly little game. And I wish more of her critics felt the same way. Instead of wasting their analytical and polemical talents on the topic, they could work to change the subject to something more substantive and deny Palin what she most greedily craves: the spotlight.

In general, I agree. But for three things.

The first is that she remains a very powerful force in American politics, the de facto leader of the opposition, and, in my mind, the likeliest nominee of either the GOP or a George Wallace style third party in 2012. This means that her attempt to recast her image, finesse her past stories and blame the McCain camp for her own errors and nuttiness should be engaged by those of us whose job it is to subject the powerful to scrutiny.

Secondly, does Damon really think that if the Dish ignored her, she would not be in the spotlight? Once you’re on Oprah, somehow the Dish’s little niche is irrelevant.

Thirdly, it’s riveting stuff. Watching someone this delusional and this uninformed and this narcissistic strut around the world stage telling empirical untruth after untruth is a car wreck worth rubber-necking. The book is so weird, and its fiction so bad, and its facts so non-checked, you’d have to have every single journalistic bone in your body removed to be indifferent to it.

But anyway, I’m tired of all this meta-journalism. Does examining her make me look obsessed? Does not examining her make me look cool? Who gives a fuck? She’s a great story, a truly bizarre creature, an international woman of mystery, and completely off her rocker.

Just get on with it, my fellow hacks. Know your place. It’s cold and lonely work, but we chose this profession and we should get off our high meta-horses and do it.

 
Bagram Air Base, 50 kms north of Kabul on November 17, 2009. Afghan survivors of a November 16 rocket attack on a market in Afghanistan that killed 10 civilians as a French general met local leaders nearby are certain that they were not the intended target. A total of 28 other Afghan civilians were wounded in the attack in Tagab district, Kapisa province, just northeast of Kabul, deputy provincial police chief Abdul Hamid Hakimi told AFP. By Shah Marai/AFP/Getty.

Apologies for the belated update, especially to the 1000+ readers last week who pledged to purchase at least one Window View book. (Total pledges: nearly 1400). Negotiating the final price with Blurb – the print-on-demand company publishing the book – took a bit longer than expected, and the Dish was preoccupied with Palin coverage this week.

But we are very proud to announce that you can now purchase the first edition of “The View From Your Window” for only $16.25 (plus shipping). That’s a nearly 50% discount off the regular print-on-demand price of $29.95.

How did we get the price down by half? We did it the way publishing houses do it – with a twist. We didn’t guess the demand or market test it, we simply asked for pledges. We crowd-sourced the price. We got enough pledges to do a print run of 2,000 which brought the price down to $16.25. But unlike the publishing houses, we’re not pocketing the difference. We’re handing it over to you in a lower price. Blurb will make some money – they’re a business, after all, and they’re doing the heavy lifting – but apart from that, you are merely paying for the actual materials of the book. Since the pictures are yours, and this blog is yours, that seems fair.

A catch: Once those 2000 copies are bought up, however, the price will return to $29.95, so secure one today. They make fantastic gifts for the holidays, which of course will be at our throats soon enough.

Though the books will not be ready to ship until December 3rd, pre-ordering before then will ensure that the book will make it to you by December 25.  (Click here for a full list of holiday shipping deadlines.)

If the new demand exceeds what we’ve printed, we may try for a second printing. But that may not be in time for Christmas. But who knows? This experiment is an experiment, and we’re prepared to improvise as we go along.

I do want to say something personal here: if you love the View From Your Window feature as much as I do, then the book really is more than the sum of its parts. It travels the world, in chronological order, from dawn to dusk. The images placed together create a whole different feel, and the photos also reflect on each other. Chris Bodenner did a great job editing, placing and adding new layers to the whole thing. It’s a beautiful, captivating four color 200-page, soft cover coffee table book – and it’s only $16.25.

To preview the book and see for yourself, click here. To get an even better sense of what’s inside, after the jump we listed the locations of all 190 window views, taken from more than 80 countries and all 50 US states, in the order they appear in the book:

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Jalalabad, Afghanistan

Nairobi, Kenya

Geumgangsan, North Korea

Rosso, Mauritania

Beijing, China

Havana, Cuba

La Grande, Oregon

San Jose, Costa Rica

Yokohama, Japan

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Chicago, Illinois

Oxfordshire, England

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Madison, New Jersey

Kassel, Germany

Huntington, New York

Charlotte, North Carolina

McGregor, Iowa

Yosemite, California

Stillwater, Minnesota

Basel, Switzerland

Rangpur, Bangladesh

Brussels, Belgium

Silver Spring, Maryland

Basata, Egypt

Dallas, Texas

Venice, Italy

Incline Village, Nevada

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Coimbatore, India

North Wilmington, Delaware

Amman, Jordan

Pebble Beach, California

Signal Mountain, Tennessee

Batac, Philippines

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Ulaanbaater, Mongolia

Lviv, Ukraine

Houston, Texas

Wawizaght, Morocco

Jaisalmar, India

Wick, Scotland

Clarkdale, Arizona

El Paso, Texas

Lima, Peru

Northfield, Minnesota

Queens, New York

Paia, Hawaii

West Hollywood, California

New York, New York

Oslo, Norway

Counce, Tennessee

Istanbul, Turkey

Newton, Kansas

Tehran, Iran

Ketchum, Idaho

Reykjavik, Iceland

Belgrade, Serbia

Stockholm, Sweden

Swift Creek Reservoir, Washington

New York, New York

Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Kootenay Lake, British Columbia

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Budapest, Hungary

Paris, France

Camp X-Ray, Cuba

Cairo, Egypt

Windsor, England

St. Quentin du Dropt, France

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Aksai, Kazakhstan

Palaung Village, Thailand

Istanbul, Turkey

Barcelona, Spain

Prague, Czech Republic

Ajijic, Mexico

Ashfield, Massachusetts

San Gabriel, California

Baghdad, Iraq

Sister Bay, Wisconsin

Charleston, South Carolina

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Seattle, Washington

Washington, Georgia

Butuan, Philippines

Bridgeville, Pennsylvania

Denver, Colorado

Port of Djibouti, Djibouti

San Francisco, California

Telavi, Republic of Georgia

Cincinnati, Ohio

Gingerland, Nevis

Corralito, Paraguay

Cusco, Peru

Wanaka, New Zealand

Gjilan, Kosovo

Cape Town, South Africa

Birmingham, Alabama

Pueblo, Colorado

Northport, Michigan

West Lafayette, Indiana

Shrewsbury, England

Grand Forks, North Dakota

Clyde, North Carolina

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Berthoud, Colorado

Haifa, Israel

Juba, Sudan

Lexington, Kentucky

Ames, Iowa

Stepaside, Ireland

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reykjavik, Iceland

Nakhal, Oman

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

New York, New York

Tokyo, Japan

Obertraun, Austria

Annaba, Algeria

Amsterdam, Netherlands

North Little Rock, Arkansas

Admiralty Bay, Saint Vincent

Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

Lewiston, Maine

Saint Louis, Missouri

Portland, Oregon

Miami Beach, Florida

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Snohomish, Washington

Copenhagen, Denmark

Rome, Italy

Lisbon, Portugal

Washington, District of Columbia

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Crane Hill, Alabama

Burlington, Vermont

Norfolk, Connecticut

Hooks Mills, West Virginia

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Williams, Arizona

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Santa Barbara, Honduras

Cairo, Egypt

Sanibel Island, Florida

Jakarta, Indonesia

Sumgayit, Azerbaijan

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Canandaigua, New York

Gharghur, Malta

Toledo, Spain

Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

Gloucester, England

Mainz, Germany

Brooklyn, New York

New Orleans, Louisiana

Rogue River, Oregon

New Castle, Pennsylvania

Casper, Wyoming

Billings, Montana

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Xin Zhuang, Taiwan

Yangon, Burma

Kobe, Japan

Capixaba, Brazil

Tirana, Albania

Kangaroo Flats, Australia

Taipa, Macau

Sonoma, California

Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory

Jurong Shipyard, Singapore

Mykonos, Greece

Bogota, Colombia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Chicago, Illinois

Yerevan, Armenia

Charlottesville, Virginia

Oxford, Mississippi

Los Angeles, California

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Charlestown, Rhode Island

Popoyo, Nicaragua

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Omaha, Nebraska

Salt Lake City, Utah

Austin, Texas

Casablanca, Morocco

Cheektowaga, New York

"In 1986 Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to 3 million people. You know what happened, in addition to becoming 11 million a decade later? There were people trying to enter the country legally, who had done the paperwork, who were here legally, who were going through the process, who claimed, all of a sudden, ‘No, no no no , I’m illegal.’ Because it was easier to do the amnesty program than it was to do the legal process," -  Marco Rubio, Republican senatorial candidate.

The direction the GOP is heading does require a repudiation of Reagan's legacy.

Reagan raised taxes occasionally in deference to some concern about deficits. The current GOP refuses to even think about thinking about raising any taxes. 

Reagan embraced immigrants and indeed granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

Reagan was prepared to negotiate with the Soviet Union. The current GOP does not believe in meeting or negotiating with any foreign enemies.

Reagan opposed an anti-gay initiative in California. Today's GOP regards anti-gay initiatives as a key fundraising and base-stoking tool.

Reagan never went in for extensive and open-ended nation-building and pulled out of Lebanon after a bombing that killed many Marines. The current Republican party never retreats on anything.

Reagan took personal responsibility for his violation go the law in Iran-Conrtra. Bush still has not taken responsiibility for the illegal authorization of torture.

Reagan took pride in his reading and his thinking on the philosophical and economic and social arguments that forged modern conservatism and the critique of the welfare state. Today's leader of the GOP – Sarah Palin – holds up her ignorance as a badge of honor.

Reagan signed the UN Convention on Torture. Today's GOP takes pride in violating it.

The stars of what is, in the Dish’s opinion, the best ever YouTube touting the Internet, are now launching a new web show, via Details.com. Their original masterpiece after the jump:

Enjoy:

Her position helps clear up another reason why so many of us were terrified last year  that she might get her hands near a nuclear button, thanks to John McCain. Since Obama took office, the White House has for the first time in many, many years actually tried seriously to get Israel to stop engaging in daily provocation of the people they will one day have to make peace with by stopping settlement construction. The Israeli government, contemptuous of the new administration, has given the US the finger again.

Today, in an even more brazen act of anti-American defiance, we read this:

The cornerstone-laying ceremony at Nof Zion took place a day after the Israeli authorities moved ahead with plans for the expansion of Gilo, a Jewish residential district in south Jerusalem also on land captured in the 1967 war. The plans for 900 more housing units drew a sharp rebuke from the White House.

The contempt for the US president and contempt for the Palestinians is revealed in this Goldblog email:

Gilo is so much a part of the Israeli consensus that even a Meretz member of the Jerusalem City Council told Army Radio this morning that it is integral part of Jerusalem and that Israel has every right to build there.

The criterion here is not what America might think, or the Palestinians might think, but just where the Israeli consensus is. That's all that matters – even to American commentators. And all this is designed, of course, to prevent any future two-state solution.

Those who say they are for a two-state solution also somehow always find a reason why, in this case, the US should bow to Israel again. Take my colleague Jeffrey Goldberg who – surprise! – writes this:

It doesn't matter, then, if the Israelis build 900 housing units in Gilo or 900 skyscrapers: Gilo will be kept by Israel in exchange for a one-to-one land swap with Palestine. All "settlements" are not created equal: Better for the Obama Administration to talk tough to Israel about the settlements ringing Nablus, for instance, because these are communities whose existence makes it impossible to create a contiguous, viable Palestinian state.

But why should we tolerate any such settlements? Why should we continue to enable the Israelis' persistent desire to seize more Palestinian land, evict more Palestinian families, and create yet more facts on the ground that make any final deal more and more outside our reach? The settlements are a constant humiliation for the Palestinians, they inflame Arab opinion, and these actions have been designed in part to humiliate Obama and show the Arab world who really dictates the boundaries of US foreign policy in the Middle East. It isn't the president of the United States.

Things are bad enough with Obama, whose humiliation at the hands of a thrilled Netanyahu is not unnoticed across Europe and the Middle East. But imagine – just imagine – if John McCain had been elected, had fallen ill, and we had his beloved Sarah Palin in the White House. Right now.

WIth Bill Kristol and Dick Cheney at her side, we'd get this:

PALIN: I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead. And I don’t think that the Obama administration has any right to tell Israel that the Jewish settlements cannot expand.

WALTERS: Even if it’s [in] Palestinian areas?

PALIN: I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expand.

If you'd ever wondered why Kristol has tried to put this know-nothing whack-job in the White House, you know now.