Tom Brokaw as aired

Extended Interview Pt. 1

Extended Interview Pt. 2

Reihan Salam

Kirsten Gillibrand as aired

Extended Interview Pt. 1

Extended Interview Pt. 2

Michael Grunwald

Leave It

I’ll never understand why 4 part a cappella harmony didn’t storm the floor.

Chicago Teachers Union On Strike For First Time in 25 Years

By Susie Madrak, Crooks & Liars

September 10, 2012 06:00 AM

All of a sudden, teachers are the enemy of the state. All of a sudden, our public schools are worthless and need to be overhauled by CEOs and people who have never taught a day in their lives (except the shock troops of Teach for America, which is to teaching what McDonald’s is to food). But many, many so-called liberals have been sucked into this argument, enabling what is little more than an elite union-busting, money-making operation.

…

There are a lot of straw men set up in this argument, and desperate parents will grab at any of them if they think it will help their kids. But study after study finds the same thing: For-profit charter schools do not perform better, and in many instances, they perform worse. Yes, well, adding a profit motive to something will do that.

So when the media tries to paint this teacher strike as greedy unions vs. "reform," don’t buy what they’re selling. Read this or this or this instead.

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Oh, and Rahm? Good luck counting on the teachers unions to get out the vote this year.

How Michelle Rhee Is Taking Over the Democratic Party

By Molly Ball, The Atlantic

Sep 8 2012, 12:31 PM ET

Yet there are signs that Rhee’s persona non grata status in her party is beginning to wane -- starting with the fact that the chairman of the Democratic convention, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, spoke at the movie screening Rhee hosted at the convention earlier this week. Another Democratic star, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, spoke at the cocktails-and-canapes reception afterward. Across the country, Democratic officials from governors like Colorado’s John Hickenlooper to former President Clinton -- buoyed by the well-funded encouragement of the hedge-fund bigwigs behind much of the charter-school movement -- are shifting the party’s consensus away from the union-dictated terms to which it has long been loyal. Instead, they’re moving the party toward a full-fledged embrace of the twin pillars of the reform movement: performance-based incentives for teachers, and increased options, including charter schools, for parents.

The inroads made by the education reformers go all the way to the top -- to President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the “Race to the Top” initiative that required states to make reforms to get federal education funds -- and they amount to a major shift for the Democratic Party on one of its signature issues. “These are some of the most high-profile Democrats out there,” Rhee says, also mentioning Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel, Philadelphia’s Michael Nutter, and her husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. “They are taking on the unions. They are fighting for what they believe in. It definitely signals a new day.”

Extradition!

You see, Julian Assange is an evil evil man.

America’s refusal to extradite Bolivia’s ex-president to face genocide charges

Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian

Sunday 9 September 2012 14.22 EDT

Obama justice officials have all but granted asylum to Sánchez de Lozada – a puppet who payrolled key Democratic advisers

In October 2003, the intensely pro-US president of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, sent his security forces to suppress growing popular protests against the government’s energy and globalization policies. Using high-powered rifles and machine guns, his military forces killed 67 men, women and children, and injured 400 more, almost all of whom were poor and from the nation’s indigenous Aymara communities. Dozens of protesters had been killed by government forces in the prior months when troops were sent to suppress them.

…

But there’s another important aspect of this case that distinguishes it from the standard immunity Washington gifts to itself and its friends. When he ran for president in 2002, Sánchez de Lozada was deeply unpopular among the vast majority of Bolivians as a result of his prior four-year term as president in the 1990s. To find a way to win despite this, he hired the consulting firm owned and operated by three of Washington’s most well-connected Democratic party operatives: James Carville, Stan Greenberg and Bob Shrum. He asked them to import the tactics of American politics into Bolivia to ensure his election victory.

As detailed by a 2006 New York Times review of a film about the Democratic operatives’ involvement in Bolivia’s election, their strategy was two-fold: first, destroy the reputations of his two opponents so as to depress the enthusiasm of Bolivia’s poor for either of them; and then mobilize Sánchez de Lozada’s base of elites to ensure he wins by a tiny margin. That strategy worked, as he was elected with a paltry 22.5% of the popular vote.

…

Then, there are the very revealing parallels between this case and the recent decision by Ecuador to grant asylum to Julian Assange, until his fears of political persecution from being extradited to Sweden are resolved. Remember all those voices who were so deeply outraged at Ecuador’s decision? Given that he faces criminal charges in Sweden, they proclaimed, protecting Assange with asylum constitutes a violent assault on the rule of law.

Do you think any of the people who attacked Ecuador on that ground will raise a peep of protest at what the US did here in shielding this former leader from facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity back in his own country? In contrast to Ecuador – which is fervently seeking an agreement to allow Assange to go to Sweden to face those allegations while simultaneously protecting his political rights – the US has done nothing, and is doing nothing, to ensure that Sánchez de Lozada will ever have to face trial. To the contrary, until Thursday, the US has steadfastly refused even to acknowledge Bolivia’s extradition request, even though the crimes for which they want to try him are plainly within the scope of the two nations’ extradition treaty.

Then there’s the amazing fact that Democrats, who understandably scorn Mitt Romney for piling up massive personal wealth while he advocates policies harmful to the poor, continue in general to revere these types of Clintonites who, arguably to a lesser extent, have done the same. Indeed, Democrats spent all last week wildly praising Bill Clinton, who has made close to $100m in speaking fees alone by traveling the globe, speaking to hedge funds, and advocating globalization and free trade.

In this case, one finds both the prevailing rules and the prevailing orthodoxies of American justice. High-level leaders in the US government and those who serve their interests are exempt from the rule of law (even when accused of heinous acts of terrorism); only leaders who run afoul of US dictates should be held accountable.

Argentine judge orders arrest of Credit Suisse executive

Reuters

Tue Sep 4, 2012

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 3 (Reuters) – A judge in Argentina has ordered the arrest of Credit Suisse executive and former U.S. Treasury Undersecretary David Mulford because he failed to testify over a 2001 Argentine debt swap, the state news agency reported on Monday.

Federal Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi will ask Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant seeking Mulford’s extradition for questioning over the bond exchange carried out by the government in an unsuccessful bid to avoid default.

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Argentine officials have “made numerous attempts by all possible legal means to achieve David Mulford’s compliance, in this country’s territory as well as through U.S. authorities, and all of these have invariably failed,” the documents stated.

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Mulford worked at the U.S. Treasury from 1984 to 1992 and was at the center of international economic negotiations under former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

He later served as the U.S. ambassador to India.

A couple of stories emerged during Qualifying.  The first is Alonso who marched steadily backwards in the time charts due to what they are calling swaybar problems.  Monza is a bad place to screw up if you’re wearing red because it’s Maronello’s home track and the boys at Marlboro UPC are watching quite closely.  This is why Qualifying high was good news for Massa who is reportedly hanging onto his job by a thread.

The other is track condition.  There have been an unexpected incidents of mechanical problems, some minor and others (gearbox, engine) not so minor.  Speculation is the uneven new paving is stressing the components.

Grosjean was suspended for a race because he caused that 4 car pile up in Turn 1 last week with Alonso, Hamilton, Kobayashi, and Perez.  Some observers consider this harsh, me not so much.  Starts are the most dangerous time in the race and he plowed into Hamilton as if he wasn’t even there.  He’s being replaced in the Lotus by d’Ambrosio.  Maldonado jumped the start at Spa and has suffered a 10 grid penalty.  di Resta didn’t use his gearbox 5 races in a row and has suffered a 5 grid penalty.

Pirelli is offering Hards and Mediums and is predicting 1 stop racing which will minimize pit advantage.  These are not the same Hards and Mediums that started the season.  At Spa and now here Pirelli has gone with narrower tires and a different compound that doesn’t degrade quite as quickly.  This is tempting teams to push them harder which is creating a situation where they could drive the wheels right off and suffer blow outs.

• Formula One Official Site
• Autodromo Nazionale Monza
• Italian Grand Prix
• Speed Racecast
• F1 2012: Autodromo Nazionale Monza Qualifying

Speed coverage starts at 8 am.  Repeat at 12:30 am.  Pretty tables below.

Monza is the fastest track on the Formula One tour and until recently was the personal testing ground of the Scuderia Marlboro UPC.  Now, except for this weekend, constructors are barred from using it at all.

There are a couple of angles to this.  First, the commentators have finally noticed what I’ve been pointing out for years which is that track testing, though expensive, is the only way for new teams to develop the engineering knowledge to become competitive.

You see it’s quite one thing to take your chassis and your aero bits to a wind tunnel and create a downforce/drag model and an entirely different thing to generate a table of tire grip and degradation under various track surfaces, temperatures, fuel loads, and driving styles.

Also tracks are losing revenue from admissions and rent and maintenance is neglected and untested since the circuits are not being used.  Monza used to rent out every weekend without an event to Maronello and people would pay to wander around and watch.  They’ve just repaved a section and it’s so ripply that people are in danger of losing their compliance boards (you can only scratch a millimeter or 2 off the bottom of your car when you bang the road or a curb).  The prancing pony people would have had that fixed.

Another issue is driver preparation.  Out of a limited pool of practice hours teams understandably devote the bulk to their primaries.  If by circumstance you are forced to start your substitute they will have very little experience in anything except a simulator.  GP 2s are a very different car and type of racing and graduates of that program still require 2 or 3 seasons of training in the F1 hardware to be effective which is why you’ll see so many ‘retired’ veterans make a brief comeback no matter how bad they were in their original stint in the big show.

As is happening this weekend, Grosjean is under suspension for taking out Alonso and Hamilton in Turn One at Spa last week.  His replacement?  d’Ambrosia of no particular reputation other than that of not gratuitously wrecking cars.

Lotus is particularly hard hit this year because after much development they’ve been forced to temporarily abandon their trick passive F-Duct for the 3rd race where it might have made a difference.  Europe has been rainy and race weekend practices inundated beyond the possibility of testing.  We may or may not see its debut in Suzuka, just in time to make no difference at all this season and legislated out of existence next.

Monza is very very fast and the operative elements are downforce and drag.  All the teams will be running the smallest wings they have in stock.  The tire compounds are Hard and Medium and at that they will probably go off quicker than you think because of the stress of braking and cornering without aero help.  Likewise engines and transmissions (Alonso has already gone through a set of each in practice).

While it’s fast, there’s not a lot of passing opportunities because the engines are so narrowly specified that there’s not a lot of horsepower difference on the straights.  Position changes under braking which means it will be a game of chicken in the corners with a lot depending on mechanical (tire) grip.  There will be 2 DRS Zones but the cars are already so light I don’t expect them to make much difference.

On form McLarens and Ferraris look slightly better because of beefier engines and because they have problems with getting enough downforce, not being fast in a straight line.  Pole will be particularly important though probably not decisive because the interval between the leaders will be low.  It will be difficult to get enough of a lead to pit without losing position and hard to regain that once lost unless in an advantageous tactical position (cleary better tires, opponent behind on pits, etc.).

Maldonado did jump start last week, unsure if there was any penalty since he eventually retired anyway.

• Formula One Official Site
• Speed Racecast

Speed will repeat Practice and Qualifying starting at 2 am tomorrow with the GP 2 race starting at 6 am and the Italian Grand Prix at 8.

As aired-

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

It was obvious that he was a man who marched through life to the rhythms of some drum I would never hear.

I’m going to Luke’s for some hangover pancakes and I don’t care how much he knows about Chris and the tequila.

Babylon Sisters

When you do the type of DJing I used to do, dinner and a dance, there’s always a question of what to play during dinner.  You want it quiet and mellow so people can talk and long format so you can eat.  We would solve this problem by popping on some Steely Dan and hitting the shuffle button.

Mitt who?

Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of ‘the rat race’ is not yet final.