Sunday, April 5, 2009

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Andrea Chalupa: Phoenix, band on SNL, NOT from Brooklyn Top
Phoenix, this amazing, uplifting French band on SNL last night, was unrecognizable to my French friend watching the show. He knew electronic Phoenix--the guys who sounded like a much better, far superior version of Jamiroquai. But these guys looked like they could have been out of Brooklyn, sharing practice space with Vampire Weekend. The following three things gave away the fact that Phoenix, in fact, is from France: *The adorable lead singer's shirt was slightly pressed like he'd picked it up from the cleaners and yet he still wore it in a laid-back, pass me the carafe, way--a clean, casual, style belonging to the French. They do casual like we dress up here. *Phoenix looked like they were really relishing being on the SNL stage. This exuberance and gratitude didn't fit the aloof, no-big-deal-ness of a posturing band out of Brooklyn. It was refreshing and got you even more excited. The French love NYC. For them, being on SNL is what going back in time and being on Ed Sullivan would be for a Brooklyn band on the rise, now that would be cool...SNL? No big deal. Americans like to up the stakes. The French appreciate simplicity. *Again, the smiles and the brotherly love in the band's performance wasn't from here, where friendships, work relationships come and go. French people tend to stay friends for life and are hard-pressed to let anyone new in unless they're a friend of a close friend. These guys looked at each other when they were rocking out like, "Can you believe this? This is awesome. We did it." They probably hugged each other backstage afterward, or at least I hope they did. So Phoenix, perfect band for spring/summer/driving through the country with the window rolled down: More on SNL
 
Gibbs: North Korea Rocket A "Pretty Big Coincidence" Top
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, asked by reporters if the administration thought North Korea's rocket launch was timed to President Obama's speech on nuclear proliferation, said he thought it was merely a "big coincidence." Watch: MR. GIBBS: You know, I was asked a question earlier that I'll go back to. Somebody had asked -- I think Mark asked whether the North Koreans had timed the launch to coincide with the speech. You know, as I had said earlier -- and I should have connected these dots -- this was something that the North Koreans had been talking about publicly for probably more than four weeks. Q But they knew about the President's visit here, though, four weeks ago, didn't they? MR. GIBBS: Well, they may have known he was going to be in Prague, but I don't believe -- we had not settled on speech topics four weeks ago. So I think it is a -- Q It's still a four-week window, though. They had -- I mean, they could have done it tomorrow, as opposed to three hours before he delivers his speech. MR. GIBBS: I think your -- pretty big coincidence, is what it was. It doesn't change, though -- again, I'd underscore what the President said today. I think it makes more important the topics he discussed today: the danger of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. And again we're reminded -- again we're reminded with need to take swift action to ensure that we do all we can to protect and secure our country and other countries of the world from these deadly weapons. More on North Korea
 
Tyler Cowen: Why Creditors Should Suffer Too Top
THE Obama administration's proposals to reform financial regulation sound ambitious enough as they aim to bring companies like A.I.G. under a broader umbrella of government rule-making and scrutiny. But there is a big hole in these proposals, as there has already been in the government's approach to bailing out failing financial companies. Even as they focus on firms deemed too big to fail, the new proposals immunize the creditors and counterparties of such firms by protecting them from their own lending and trading mistakes.
 
Roxana Saberi's Parents Fly To Iran To Visit Her In Detention Top
TEHRAN, Iran — The parents of an American journalist imprisoned in Iran will be allowed to meet with their daughter, their lawyer said Sunday after the North Dakota couple arrived in the country seeking her release. Reza Saberi and his wife, Akiko, arrived early Sunday and met with authorities at Evin prison who gave them permission to see their daughter, Roxana Saberi, during Monday's weekly visitation period, said the lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshai. Iranian prosecutors have now issued a formal charge or indictment against Roxana Saberi, Khorramshai said, but he has not yet seen the charges and probably will not for several weeks under Iran's court procedures. He had no further details. Iranian officials have said Roxana Saberi was arrested for working in the country after her press credentials had expired. Her parents found out about her arrest in a Feb. 10 phone call from her. Her father has said that Roxana Saberi has told her family she has not been harmed physically but that the detention is psychologically challenging. Saberi grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, and is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran. She has lived in Iran for six years and has reported for several news organizations. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week the United States had given a letter to Iranian officials during a meeting in Europe, seeking Iran's help in resolving the cases of Roxana Saberi and two other Americans missing or detained in Iran. The returns of Roxana Saberi, Robert Levinson and Esha Momeni would be a humanitarian gesture, the letter said. Levinson, a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs, Florida, was last seen on Iran's Kish Island on March 8, 2007. He disappeared in Iran while investigating cigarette smuggling for a client of his private security firm. Momeni, a dual U.S. and Iranian national, was visiting Tehran to research a master's thesis on the women's rights movement in Iran. Momeni, born in Los Angeles, was arrested Oct. 15 on a traffic violation.
 
Obama Responds To Afghan Rape Legalization: "Abhorrent" Top
At a news conference in Strasbourg, France, this morning, President Obama discussed NATO efforts in Afghanistan and secured the commitment of NATO allies to send 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Fox News' Major Garrett asked Obama what he thinks of a new Afghanistan law that legalizes rape. The legislation, which applies to the country's Shia population, contains this provision: More on Obama's First 100 Days
 
Geithner: The "Crude Reality" Is Unemployment Could Rise As Economy Starts Recovering Top
President Obama's Treasury Secretary and senior adviser both cautioned on Sunday that while the economy was making strides towards a recovery, unemployment rates were likely to rise even further. Appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," Timothy Geithner would not say whether he believed the unemployment rate would go as high as ten percent -- it now stands at 8.5 percent . But he did note that the history of recovery dictates that employment numbers lag behind other indicators of growth. "The typical pattern of recovery is that growth recovers, growth starts to turn positive, people start to spend more, businesses hire more, they invest more, before you see unemployment peak," he said. "That's the crude reality of recoveries." "Do you think it could go as high as 10 percent?" host Bob Schieffer asked, with respect to unemployment levels. "It depends on how effective we are in moving," replied Geithner. 'That is why it is so important that we move with countries around the world ... In past recoveries the world sort of depended on the American consumer to spend the world into recovery. That's not a healthy, balanced way for us to do this. We need the countries around the world to be moving with us." Earlier on Sunday, strategist David Axelrod was asked a similar line of questioning on Fox News Sunday. He provided a similar answer. "I'm not prepared to say that's where it's going to go," he said of the unemployment rate. But the president was very clear and the reason that we pushed for an economic recovery act was that we were going to have a very difficult year this year. And unemployment -- employment is the last thing that follows growth. So it's going to be a while for us to turn upwards on these jobs numbers ... We inherited a terribly difficult situation. And we have to work our way out of it. It took years to get into it. It's going to take more than months to get out of it." More on Timothy Geithner
 
Huff TV: Arianna Appears on Panel of ABC's "This Week" With George Stephanopoulos (VIDEO) Top
Arianna was a panelist this morning on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, along with David Frum, George Will, Richard Haas, Martha Raddatz. The conversation got heated towards the end, as the subject turned from international affairs to the bank bailout and economic crisis here in America. [WATCH] Watch the full round table here . More on Video
 
Texas INMATE Phone System Debuts: The "Cell" Phone Top
Texas prison inmates are making routine phone calls for the first time. The Texas prison board was told Friday the first of a planned systemwide program of telephone service to be available to most inmates began working this week at the Henley State Jail in Dayton, east of Houston. The system is being phased in this year throughout the 112 units of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the nation's second-largest corrections agency. Under terms of a contract with a Kansas telecommunications firm, the country's most restrictive telephone policy for state prisoners is ending for an estimated 120,000 inmates who will be allowed up 120 minutes of prepaid and collect calls each month. Three more prisons -- Vance, in Fort Bend County; Luther, in Grimes County; and Hobby, in Falls County -- are to have phone service next week and should be among 13 brought up in April. Another 31 become active in May and the entire system should be up by the end of September, said Paul Cooper, director and general manager of corrections markets for Embarq Corp., the Overland Park, Kan.-based company that last year was awarded a seven-year contract with the Texas prison agency. Texas is the last state to bar routine phone access for inmates. Most Texas prisoners now are allowed one five-minute collect call every 90 days, and only with a warden's permission and only with a prison officer present to monitor the call. The new system will allow inmates up to 15 minutes per call to friends and family on an approved list of visitors. Calls to crime victims or the victims' families will be barred. Inmates and their families can prepay for telephone calls at rates of about 23 cents a minute for in-state calls and 39 cents for out-of-state calls. Collect calls within Texas will be about 26 cents a minute and 43 cents for outside the state. International calls and calls to cell phone aren't allowed. Phone privileges won't extend to about 36,000 inmates with disciplinary problems, gang affiliations or those on death row. A few weeks before the system becomes active at a unit, Embarq makes voice prints of each eligible inmate as a security check for phone access. Cooper said so far 65,000 inmates have enrolled. "We educate offenders on how the system is going to work so they know and write letters to friends and families," he said. Friends and relatives of inmates can register on a Web site -- http://www.texasprisonphone.com -- and the company is working on an automated system for people who don't have Internet access, Cooper said. People on an inmate's visitors list submit a copy of their telephone bill and a copy of their driver's license and their names are verified against the visitors list names. "There are multiple layers of checks that occur," Cooper said, saying the phone system had security features and "a ton" of investigative capabilities. "In terms of getting into the system, there are some checks," he said. "They are not perfect." People who register and are approved are notified by a phone call from the firm. The new phone privileges come in the wake of a crackdown by the agency on illegal cell phone use. Hundreds of contraband phones, chargers and phone components have been seized in recent months and security has been tightened for those entering and leaving the prisons after a death row inmate last year, using a smuggled phone, made threatening calls to a state senator. State prison officials long had opposed expanded phone access, fearing inmates could maintain their criminal connections to the outside world. But officials say technology has improved so the calls can be monitored, recorded and limited to those on the list of approved contacts. State lawmakers in 2007 overwhelmingly approved the measure allowing the project. Embarq handles state prison telephone contracts in a half dozen states and will keep the first 60 percent of revenues. The remaining money, up to $10 million, will go to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. Proceeds beyond that will be split evenly between the state's general revenue and the victim's fund. The Legislative Budget Board has estimated annual revenue at about $5.8 million. Embarq spokesman Tom Matthews said the installation has been a "massive project" made even more challenging at the state's prisons. "There was no infrastructure anywhere," he said, saying the work involved basic things like stringing wire. "None of the facilities ever had that." Some corrections experts believe the availability of phone communication allows inmates to keep in regular touch with relatives and that continued phone access can be used as an incentive for a convict to behave. Phones also are seen as a way to ease the financial strain on relatives who want to visit an inmate in a prison far from them. Approximately one phone is being installed for each 30 inmates, meaning about 4,000 phones will be put in common areas of prisons like day rooms. Calls to an inmate's lawyer of record, protected under attorney-client privilege, would not be monitored or recorded.
 
Clinton Works The Phones On North Korea Top
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is working to build international consensus on condemning North Korea's missile launch. Her effort comes ahead of an emergency U.N. Security Council session Sunday afternoon. Clinton is now traveling in Europe with President Barack Obama. She spoke by phone on Sunday with the foreign ministers of China, Japan and Russia _ three key countries in talks aimed at getting North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons. China and Russia are also permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security Council. The U.S. says the North's launch of what it claimed to be a satellite violates an existing U.N. bar on ballistic missile activity by the communist state. The launch appears to have failed to reach orbit.
 
Geithner: We Won't Hesitate To Change Management At Banks Top
Timothy Geithner took what appeared to be a stronger line when it came to the potential firing of bank CEOs Sunday, saying that the administration would not hesitate to make "a change of the management" at those institutions if it was deemed necessary. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," the Treasury Secretary was pressed twice as to why GM's Rick Wagoner was forced out by the White House while heads at some of the country's most troubled banks remained in office. "What I'll say is this," said Geithner. "If in the future banks need exceptional assistance in order to get through this, then we'll make sure that assistance comes ... [with conditions] not just to protect the taxpayer but to make sure that it's the kind of restructuring for them to emerge stronger, and where that requires a change of the management of the board, we'll do that." "You will?" asked host Bob Schieffer. "Where that is necessary," replied Geithner. "Where it meets the test. Where it's necessary to do what it is we are here to do which is to make sure that this financial system supports recovery and the banks emerge stronger." In the days following Wagoner's firing, the Obama White House had struggled to respond to accusations that it used a double standard when it came to the automotive and financial bailouts. On Sunday, Geither insisted that there was a "single principle" guiding the administration's mindset: to make companies requiring "exceptional assistance" more accountable. If that meant changes in management, so be it. Nevertheless, Geithner did make the case that in the context of economic recovery the financial sector took precedence over the automobile industry. The former can save the later, he argued, but not the other way around. "Economies depend on financial systems," Geithner said. "They provide the credit that is the oxygen for economies. And recovery requires, recovery of the automobile industry requires, that we have a financial system that is doing a better job of making credit available on reasonable terms for business and families. And that basic objective has to guide everything we do." More on Timothy Geithner
 
Ward Churchill VERDICT: Jury Overturns School Decision! Top
Most Americans understand that protecting free speech means defending not only those who speak truth to power but those who hate us, scare us, revolt us or offend us. The United States has upheld the right of Nazis to march through Jewish neighborhoods and the right of Hustler publisher Larry Flynt to portray Jerry Falwell losing his virginity to his mother in an outhouse. It has permitted communists to advocate the overthrow of the government and paparazzi to poke their cameras into the private lives of others. Americans don't have to approve of these behaviors to recognize that they are protected under the 1st Amendment.
 
Religious Right Crack-Up? Many Conservative Christians "Finished With Politics" Top
n general, the most noticeable fissure among politically conservative evangelical Christians is generational. In this dynamic, older evangelicals see themselves as an appendage of the Republican Party, and consider abortion and gay rights as the only "moral" issues that matter. Younger evangelicals are less partisan, and consider poverty and global warming important, too. But there's another fissure, which in the short term, may be even more consequential. It's between leaders of the religious movement vs. those more inclined to take John 18:36 to heart (Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world").
 
Warren Buffett, Champion Of Bailout, Also Leading Beneficiary Top
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has been lauded for his plainspoken denunciation of the greed and foolishness behind the economic crisis. He's pushed the massive federal bailout of imploding banks as the essential response to an "economic Pearl Harbor." More on Warren Buffett
 
Axelrod Smacks Down Cheney: Not Acting Like A Statesman (VIDEO) Top
The president's senior adviser, David Axelrod, shot back at Dick Cheney on Sunday, suggesting that the former vice president had failed in the war on terror and was therefore engaging in "supreme" irony by accusing the Obama administration of making American less safe. As an added bonus, Axelrod drew a sharp contrast between Cheney and his former boss, George W. Bush, who he said "behaved like a statesman" during the presidential transition. From Axelrod's interview with CNN's State of the Union with John King": "First of all, I find it supremely ironic on a day when we were meeting with NATO to talk about the continued threat from al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan where they are still plotting against us seven years later; I think the question for Mr. Cheney is how could that be? How could this have gone so long? Why are they still in business? That is the fundamental threat that we face and it's a little incredible to me that he would argue somehow that... forging an international alliance to finally pursue a strategy to defeat and dismantle al Qaeda and Afghanistan is going make us less safe. I think it was an unfortunate statement. Let me say in contrast how much we appreciate the way President Bush has behaved. He was incredibly cooperative during the transition and when he left, he said, 'I wish you guys the best. I'm rooting for you.' I believe that to be the case. And he has behaved like a statesman and, as I've said before, here and elsewhere, I just don't think the memo got passed down to the vice president." Watch: More on David Axelrod
 
Axelrod Defends Circumventing Executive Pay Caps: Don't Want To Create "Disincentives" (VIDEO) Top
One of President Barack Obama's closest advisers defended on Sunday moves to help executives at major banks avoid restrictions on lavish pay, saying the administration did not want to "create disincentives" for these banks to participate in bailout initiatives. "Understand that we are very committed, the president has a tough set of standards that we are refining to deal with this question of executive compensation," David Axelrod told Fox News Sunday. "It is an issue he talked about long before the crisis. But here is the point: on some of these programs we are asking financial companies to come in and help solve this problems by providing more lending, by buying up toxic assets and so on. We don't want to create disincentives and undermine the program. So we have to look very closely at this, making sure we are not rewarding people for irresponsibility, that firms that are getting extraordinary help aren't giving out huge bonuses. But we do need financial companies that aren't in great distress to help lead us out of this and partner with tax payers to help lending get going again." The remarks come several days after the Washington Post reported that administration officials were "engineering its new bailout initiatives" in a way that would allow participants in the program "to avoid restrictions imposed by Congress, including limits on lavish executive pay." Legally, the administration says it is in the clear. Congress' restrictions apply to those receiving money from the government. But the bailed out firms are actually receiving money through special entities ("middlemen") set up by the government to funnel the money to these institutions. Politically speaking, the administration has a tougher case to make. There is, as Axelrod acknowledged, a real populist anger with the salaries and bonuses of officials at these firms. And it seems unlikely to be diminished by the need to get other firms to help invest in the administration's toxic asset purchasing program. More on David Axelrod
 
Levi Johnston On Tyra: Will YOU Watch His Sex, Palin Talk? (POLL) Top
Levi Johnston is on Tyra Monday, in a segment that taped last week. As reported, Levi talks about having not-always-safe sex with Bristol Palin, which resulted in her pregnancy and their son Trip. They have since broken up, but Levi also showed Tyra his Bristol tattoo, still on his ring finger. Sarah Palin has since hit back at Levi, saying in a statement in part, "It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well being of the child."
 
Ice Bridge Ruptures In Antarctic (VIDEO) Top
An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped. Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is of the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence or rapid change in the region. Read full story here . -OR- Watch the video report below. More on Video
 
Suicide bomber kills 22 in Pakistan Shiite mosque Top
ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber attacked a crowded Shiite mosque south of the Pakistani capital on Sunday, killing 22 people and wounding dozens more in the latest carnage to hit the U.S.-allied nation, officials said. Violence in Pakistan has spread well beyond the dangerous Afghan border region, including a suicide bombing in Islamabad on Saturday that killed eight paramilitary personnel and a deadly commando-style attack against a police academy last week in Lahore. Fedayeen al-Islam, a little-known group believed linked to the Taliban, claimed responsibility through a spokesman. Pakistan also has a history of sectarian violence that often involves attacks by Sunni extremists on minority Shiites. Separately, a senior Pakistan Taliban commander claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack on the paramilitary forces, saying it was in retaliation for U.S. drone missile strikes against militants in Pakistan near the Afghan border and threatening to carry out two suicide attacks per week. The group has also said it carried out the attack in Lahore. Sunday's suicide bomber set off his explosives at the entrance to a mosque in Chakwal city in Punjab province, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Islamabad, during a religious congregation, said Nadim Hasan Asif, a top security official in Punjab. He said the blast killed 22 people and injured more than 30. "The suspected man was stopped at the entrance and pushed himself in and exploded," Asif said. Another police officer, Nasir Khan Durrani, said the attack could have been much worse. "Had he succeeded in exploding inside it could have caused a much bigger loss because there were hundreds of people inside," Durrani said. Chaudhry Nasrullah, the top health official in Chakwal, confirmed that 22 people were killed and that more than 50 were injured, a dozen of them critically. He appealed to the government to send helicopters to evacuate the most seriously wounded. Farid Ali, who left the mosque just before the attack occurred, said he felt the blast on his back and looked back and saw smoke and dust. "I saw several people lying dead," he told Express News TV. "There was blood everywhere." Local television footage showed pools of blood on the road in front of the mosque. Torn clothes and a pair of shoes also littered the ground. Police investigators were shown collecting evidence, not far from a car and four motorcycles that were damaged by the blast. A policeman with both his legs bandaged and another wounded man whose shirt was stained with blood were shown on hospital beds crying in pain. A woman standing in the emergency ward of the hospital wailed, "Oh my God. Oh my God." Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack, saying it was masterminded by people who are against the state and want to give Islam a bad name. Most of the militant attacks in Pakistan take place in the area near the Afghan border, where Taliban and al-Qaida militants have established bases and often strike U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Late last month, a suicide bomber blew up in a packed mosque near the Afghan border at the climax of a Friday prayer service, killing 48 people and wounding scores more in the worst attack to hit Pakistan this year. But militants have also stepped up attacks in Pakistan's interior. A man identified as Umar Farooq who says he speaks for the shadowy militant organization Fedayeen al-Islam told The Associated Press via telephone Sunday that the group had staged the attack on the mosque as part of a "campaign against infidels." He also warned the U.S. to stop its drone-fired missile strikes on militant targets in Pakistan's northwest. Little is known of the group, but it is believed linked to the Pakistani Taliban. In the past it has claimed responsibility for other attacks, including the bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel. Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has said his group was behind the attack on the police academy, which killed 12 people, including seven police. He vowed to carry out more attacks unless the U.S. stopped the missile strikes. The drone attacks have continued. One of Mehsud's deputies, Hakimullah Mehsud, told the AP that the Pakistani Taliban carried out the suicide attack against the paramilitary camp in Islamabad on Saturday. He said the attack was in retaliation for U.S. drone strikes and the group would carry out two suicide attacks per week in Pakistan. He had warned last week that militants would soon strike Islamabad. ___ Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad contributed to this report. More on War Wire
 
TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads Top
So, here's what I accomplished yesterday. My front hall closet, untouched and unmolested, for about six years, into which all manner of coat and hat and scarf and mitten has been stuffed, willy nilly, resulting in an inpenetrably dense forest of fleece and wool - it has been solved! Yes, in one of our most successful Chore Saturdays, we have bagged up many coats for goodwill, thrown away much detritus, sent much crap to storage, and successfully re-enacted the opening scene from two or three 30 ROCKS ago with many bags of plastic boxes from the Container Store that are going to change our lives forever. I now have a front hall closet that is full of fewer coats, stuffed with empty modular containers awaiting their fulfilling storage destinies, and finally, there's is room somewhere for the enemy of cats - my vacuum cleaner to live. It's maybe not worth blogging about, but in this recession we take our successes where we can. Suck it, world! An now it's time for your Sunday Morning Liveblog, where the world sucks back. My name is Jason and today, OMGZ who is the dreamy new CEO of General Motors and is he ready to withstand the cotton candy interrogations of MEET THE PRESS? Probably! And also other things. Please feel free to leave a comment, or send an email , or follow me and my witticisms on the Twitters . And if anyone has any organization suggestions for a linen closet, let me know, because I am on a hot streak! And now... FOX NEWS SUNDAY Today! Kim Jong Il's crotchrocket, Obama goes on his wacky European vacation, and YAY GOP REBRANDING WITH the Kim Jong Il of South Carolina, Mark Sanford. Apparently, North Korea fired a rocket while we were all sleeping, so, Major Garret, who will hopefully be one day promoted to Colonel is reporting on it in Prague. Yes, it's HIPSTER COLLEGE VACATION for Major, and this rocket is total buzzkill. Anyway, Obama called the move a "provocation," that doesn't jibe with his desired reduction of missiles. Anyway, David Axelrod is here, and so is friend of the liveblog Ana Marie Cox, who quips: "Axelrod is putting me to sleep with his moustache, it's calming and gentle." We both are really excited to hear words like "fissile material" and "loose nukes" on a Sunday Morning. Wallace doesn't understand the principles of nuclear disarmament. WHAT ABOUT MISSILE DEFENSE? Obama is not taking "missile defense off the table" but he feels that he has "an obligation to not put systems in the field that don't work." Wallace wants to know why and if they will shoot the missile down. Isn't that the sort of thing that you don't announce in advance? "SOME CRITIC" are apparently saying that Obama is "pandering" to the Europeans, apparently. You know, some degree of ass kissing should presage the pitch, especially if the pitch is, "HEY, IF YOU AREN'T DOING ANYTHING NEXT WEEK, WHY NOT COME DIE IN AFGHANISTAN WITH US?" Ana Marie: "Imagining that this is Fred Armisen and Chris Wallace is making this already far more entertaining than either actual show is or was." Axelrod says that the Euros are sending a bunch of non-combat personnel and cash, which isn't bad, really. But Lord knows your Foxies aren't impressed with anything European if it's not some sort of cowboy nonsense. WHY COULDN'T OBAMA HAVE CONVINCED DENMARK TO DISMANTLE IT'S SOCIALIZED MEDICINE SYSTEM? IS HE INCOMPETENT? Doing Axelrod no favors: this lighting. Ana Marie: "I think it's what they used to use at Gitmo." GAH, "lightning round." Why would the administration allow executives on Wall Street get richer? Because if he didn't, you'd ask why we weren't allowing that! No, actually, it's because Obama is surrounded by Goldman Sachs executives and Larry Summers, who was paid by financial institutions to make money for them. Why not just cut the cord on General Motors? Basically, they are getting their one last chance, but maybe people will like their new Fiats, who knows? Wallace asks if the unions will agree to "a severe haircut." Axelrod points out that the unions have had their hairs cut so much, that the next step involves guillotines. Jason: NoW: GOP rebranding, with Mark Sanford and Newt Gingrich. Ana Marie: Because they're so.... rebranded? Ana Marie: Unless they've recently been burned by a hot iron, then I think these guys are not exactly examples of GOP rebranding Jason: Would President Gingrich have "taken out the North Korean missile?" YES. He would have sexed another missile, while that missile was in the hospital with cancer. Ana Marie: I LOVE, love that Newt used the NoKo missile as an excuse to plug his NOVEL Jason: Gingrich wrote a bellicose best-seller about it. "ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE changes everything about these weapons." Also, the fissile material. Ana Marie: "GOP rebranding, with Mark Sanford and Newt Gingrich" is a little like "Rebranding Germany, with Hitler and the Kaiser." Jason: Sanford says that "in the countryside in SC, you have to back up your words with action." So, I guess no one has said these words: "LET'S FIX THESE TERRIBLE HIGHWAYS. LET'S SHOOT FOR JUST CRAPPY SCHOOLS, AS OPPOSED TO ABYSMAL ONES." Ana Marie: rather when sanford talks about "shooting for crappy schools" he imagines he's just putting them out of their misery Jason: What does Newt think about getting rid of nukes? Gingrich goes right for the "Jimmy Carter at Notre Dame speech." He calls non-proliferation a "fantasy foreign policy." Ana Marie: "fantasy foreign policy" is what Kissenger plays during the off season Jason: It's what the Project for a New American Century plays full time. Jason: Mark Sanford wants Obama to treat European human beings the same way he treats the economy. Ana Marie: SERIOUSLY: NEWT on "rebranding"???? Jason: And he inflects the wrong syllable of "contrite." Because South Carolina's schools are awful. Ana Marie: THE GUY THAT LOST THE HOUSE? Jason: I like how they've left the whole point of this discussion to the end of the segment. Ana Marie: overtaken by events, jason, overtaken by events Jason: None of the people who are currently shooting their mouth off about GOP rebranding will be the ones to successfully rebrand it. Nothing Gingrich is saying is new. Ana Marie: and also managed to answer the question about rebranding by talking mostly about the Obama admin Jason: So, if Ross Perot is willing to help, the GOP will succeed. Ana Marie: ACTUALLY, you MAY HAVE TO TELL HIM! Ana Marie: he may not know! Ana Marie: that would be one explanation? Jason: Mark Sanford says he won't spend money on education or public safety unless a lot of people are willing to be unemployed. Sanford says that scenario is from a fake budget designed to scare people. As opposed to Mike Pence's Fake Budget Designed to Confuse People, with Pictures of Windmills. Jason: GM made reforms? Ana Marie: and a chart having to do with the tides Jason: Newt Gingrich converted to Catholicism because the Church is bringing back plenary indulgences, right? Jason: "I converted to Catholicism because WOW WHAT A WEDGE ISSUE!" Ana Marie: the fact that Newt can enter a church makes me doubt my faith in God Jason: Newt is the one man in America who can look into Ratz's eyes and see "joy." Jason: I see, "villain from Dan Brown novel." And now, Panel Time, with Bill Kristol, Mara Liasson, Rich Lowry and Jim VandeHei. Bill Kristol says that this North Korea test is a "de facto Iranian [missile] test." Read all about that in the forthcoming Foreign Policy Initiative white papers. Liasson also calls the Iranian nuke a fait accompli. Lowry, naturally, wants either pre-emption, always, forever, or a missile defense system, and believes North Korea has "played a weak hand in e perversely brilliant way." VandeHei, naturally, says the Obama trip to Europe was a failure, and it's failure forever. Kristol is happy to defend Obama on Afghanistan, and has no basic problem with Obama's "humble" rhetoric in Europe, especially if it helps. If it becomes the mission, he'll yell and scream about that. Chris Lehmann joins us, for commentary: Chris: oh my god, mara liason has JOINED THE GESTAPO! Jason: Yes. Chris: Stormtrooper coat and PEARL CHOKER? They let children watch this? OK, focus: tax havens. Jason: What a panel! Kristol is the sane one. Lowry wants everything to be the game missile command. Chris: Queen touching! Mara arbitrating style. Our civilization grinds to a halt Jason: Don't worry about civilization! Newt Gingrich will save it, with his CATHOLICISM. Chris: Lowry's poignant closeted plea has given me a sad. Jason: Jim VandeHei has given JOURNALISM a sad. These unemployment numbers, by the way? They are indeed bad! And what's worse is that they have exceeded the margin that the administration had adopted as their worst-case scenario. I've been told by credible people that when it comes to the "stress testing" of the banks, it's going to have a big, and negative effect. Kristol thinks that "the Republican Party is united in a prinicpled way." They aren't united in a "sensible solutions to get us out of the mess way." But on principle, they HATES BIG GUVVAMINT. If only they could re-sodomize the Glass-Steagall Act! Mara Liasson says "cronyism is a potential problem." UHM, HOW MANY MORE KABILLIONS DO THEY HAVE TO GIVE LARRY SUMMERS BEFORE HE'S A "CRONY." Jeez. You buy me a nice lunch , and I'll crony it up for anybody! Ana Marie: VANDEHEI? OMG. The pug-nosed purveyor of conventional wisdom? He's on that Fox panel to WIN THE BRUNCHTIME Jason: YES. Ana Marie: I think Rich Lowry is going to go completely gray before his voice breaks. Also the difference btw "cap and trade" and "carbon tax" is more than just the name. That was just dishonest. It's like saying "Democrats oppose torture, or, as Republicans call it, 'tickle parties.'" Jason: I am against anyone, from either party, having a tickle party. Unless they're being tickled with acid-tipped ostrich feathers. Fox closes it down with a segment on how awesome Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is. WORD. Ana Marie: Fox News Sunday is on Hulu? Gonna mash that shit up with DOLLHOUSE. Panelists blank personalities imprinted with a personality specific to the assignment. THIS WEEK Susan Rice is here today. And, if you are keeping score at home, that's no disclosure from GS that Rice is the wife of executive producer Ian Cameron. So, there's that. Rice "feels very strongly that" NK has violated international law through their action, and will take her case to the UN, where she says a strong response is wanted. Of course, China wants no sanctions. Is the U.S. prepared to pressure them? Probably not! They sort of own the United States, right? Rice says that China has "multiple concerns," but that China is with the U.S. where denuking North Korea is concerned. But they seem so determined! Rice suggests that there have been "fits and starts," mainly citing the temporary shuttering of a plant. She's got mad goals, though! And promises to achieve "united action." Her concern is the prevention of developing and proliferating more nukes. North Korea is considered a "proliferation threat." Should we be worried about a missile that could hit the U.S.? Rice says the assessment is that North Korea is an ongoing concern, and these developments represent a need to revisit and reassess, but that the result of the test does not suggest that North Korea has succeeded in developing a missile that could hit the United States. Rice hopes Iran will "seize the opportunity" to develop a new relationship with the United States. Of course, Israel is all about TEH BOMBINGS. Does an Israeli strike concern Rice? "It's not productive to speculate," she says. I think that given all the myriad crap the U.S. is dealing with at home, that maybe now is not the time for Bibi Netanyahu to be dialing up air strike requests. On the Af-Pak region, Rice says the administration is "very concerned" about human rights abuses, especially from the Taliban. Horrific video of the Taliban beating a woman is shown, and GS points out that this is all going down in Pakistani territory. Why all the aid, then? Rice hasn't much of answer, other than to say that forthcoming world aid is going to be tied to rooting out extremists. I applaud Rice for using the word "genocide." It's actually very important that this word gets used, over and over again. And there's your Ian Cameron disclosure! Thanks, George! Panel Time! George Will is talking about the "surreality" of the North Korean test. Richard Haass notes, ruefully, that we're looking at the failure of sanctions. My boss, Arianna Huffington, notes that the financial collapse is going to impact this situation, because it's going to be harder to pressure China. Martha Raddatz calls is "complicated." Full time Charlie Foxtrot. George Will refuses to believe in a "community of nations." "It's the old planted liberal axiom that harmony is natural, it's not." Arianna says that the "community of nations" is an aspiration that needs to be worked toward. Will says he's not suggesting that diplomacy should be abandoned and that she's feckless. Of course, Will's frame of reference is EFFING WOODROW WILSON AND CLEMENCEAU. The cutting edge proponents of liberal internationalism basically agree that a return to Wilsonianism is not desirable. But a whole century has passed since then. I can't believe were discussing how to approach Iran and North Korea through a WWI frame of reference, but crimony, what has George Will actually learned in the past fifty years, exactly. Jesus. A man goes on teevee, suggests that the only alternative to bombing the sizz out of the parts of the world we object to is a resuscitation of Wilsonianism, and then calls someone else feckless. What a world we live in. AND EVERY DISCUSSION ON THIS SHOW GOES THROUGH WILL FIRST. It's the most unearned perk in the effing world.
 

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