This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 345 days remaining until the end of the year (346 in leap years).

On this day in 1801, John Marshall is appointed the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. Marshall (September 24, 1755 – July 6, 1835) was an American jurist and statesman whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law while enhancing the role of the Supreme Court as a center of power. Marshall was the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, serving from 1801 until his death in 1835. He had served in the United States House of Representatives from 1799 to 1800, and was Secretary of State under President John Adams from 1800 to 1801. Marshall was from the Commonwealth of Virginia and was a leader of the Federalist Party.

The longest-serving Chief Justice of the United States, Marshall dominated the Court for over three decades (a term outliving his own Federalist Party) and played a significant role in the development of the American legal system. Most notably, he reinforced the principle that federal courts are obligated to exercise judicial review, by disregarding purported laws if they violate the Constitution. Thus, Marshall cemented the position of the American judiciary as an independent and influential branch of government. Furthermore, the Marshall Court made several important decisions relating to federalism, affecting the balance of power between the federal government and the states during the early years of the republic. In particular, he repeatedly confirmed the supremacy of federal law over state law, and supported an expansive reading of the enumerated powers.

Nomination

Marshall was thrust into the office of Chief Justice in the wake of the presidential election of 1800. With the Federalists soundly defeated and about to lose both the executive and legislative branches to Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans, President Adams and the lame duck Congress passed what came to be known as the Midnight Judges Act, which made sweeping changes to the federal judiciary, including a reduction in the number of Justices from six to five so as to deny Jefferson an appointment until two vacancies occurred. As the incumbent Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth was in poor health, Adams first offered the seat to ex-Chief Justice John Jay, who declined on the grounds that the Court lacked “energy, weight, and dignity.” Jay’s letter arrived on January 20, 1801, and as there was precious little time left, Adams nominated Marshall, who was with him at the time and able to accept immediately. The Senate at first delayed, hoping that Adams would make a different choice, such as promoting Justice William Paterson of New Jersey. According to New Jersey Senator Jonathan Dayton, the Senate finally relented “lest another not so qualified, and more disgusting to the Bench, should be substituted, and because it appeared that this gentleman (Marshall) was not privy to his own nomination”. Marshall was confirmed by the Senate on January 27, 1801, and received his commission on January 31, 1801. While Marshall officially took office on February 4, at the request of the President he continued to serve as Secretary of State until Adams’ term expired on March 4. President John Adams offered this appraisal of Marshall’s impact: “My gift of John Marshall to the people of the United States was the proudest act of my life.”

 250 – Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred.

1265 – In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting held by Simon de Montfort in the Palace of Westminster, now also known colloquially as the “Houses of Parliament”.

1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.

1356 – Edward Balliol abdicates as King of Scotland.

1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored.

1523 – Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.

1576 – The Mexican city of Leon is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enriquez de Almanza.

1649 – Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other “high crimes”.

1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence).

1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Botany Bay is unsuitable for the location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.

1801 – John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.

1839 – In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.

1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.

1885 – L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.

1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.

1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.

1921 – The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.

1929 – In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, is released.

1934 – Fujifilm, the photographic and electronics company, is founded in Tokyo, Japan.

1936 – Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.

1937 – Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as U.S. President. This is the first inauguration on January 20. The date was changed from March 4 by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution.

1941 – Franklin Roosevelt is the only President inaugurated for a third term.

1941 – A Nazi officer is murdered in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.

1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implenetation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”.

1945 – World War II: Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.

1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.

1945 – Franklin Roosevelt’s fourth and final inauguration is held at the White House due to wartime considerations.

1949 – Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.

1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the first Republican President in twenty years.

1954 – The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.

1959 – The first flight of the Vickers Vanguard.

1960 – Hendrik Verwoerd announces a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.

1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the youngest elected and first Roman Catholic President of the U.S. His inaugural address is one of the most memorable of the 20th century.

1968 – The Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71-69 to win the Game of the Century.

1969 – East Pakistani police kill student activist Amanullah Asaduzzaman. The resulting outrage is in part responsible for the Bangladesh Liberation War.

1977 – Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States. He is the last President inaugurated at the east front of the Capitol, which had been the traditional site for Presidential inaugurations since 1829.

1981 – Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, at age 69 the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as U.S. President, Iran releases 52 American hostages. It is the first Presidential inauguration to be held at the west front of the Capitol.

1986 – Martin Luther King, Jr. day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.

1987 – Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.

1990 – Tragedy at Baku – The Red Army killed Azerbaijani people in Baku.

1991 – Sudan’s government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.

1992 – Air Inter Flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 82 passengers and 5 crew.

1999 – The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafés.

2001 – Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

2006 – Witnesses report sightings of a Bottlenose whale swimming in the River Thames, the first time the species had been seen in the River Thames since records began in 1913.

2007 – A three-man team, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1958 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.

2009 – Barack Obama inaugurated as the 44th and first African-American President of the United States.

Holidays and observances

   * Armed Forces Day (Mali)

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Abadios

         o Euthymius the Great

         o Fabian

         o Sebastian

         o Manchan of Lemanaghan

         o January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Martyrs’ Day (Azerbaijan)

   * United States presidential inauguration, held every four years since 1937 (with 2 exceptions by Eisenhower & Reagan, on January 21st) in odd-numbered years after years when the United States Presidential Election takes place (as the election takes place in years divisible by four – 2004, 2008, 2012, and so on – the inauguration takes place in 2005, 2009, 2013, etc.). The incoming/reelected President traditionally swears-in as close to Noon as possible.

Let The Show Trials Begin After All Who Needs Real Jurisprudence      



U.S. Prepares to Lift Ban on Guantánamo Cases

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is preparing to increase the use of military commissions to prosecute Guantánamo detainees, an acknowledgment that the prison in Cuba remains open for business after Congress imposed steep new impediments to closing the facility.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is expected to soon lift an order blocking the initiation of new cases against detainees, which he imposed on the day of President Obama’s inauguration. That would clear the way for tribunal officials, for the first time under the Obama administration, to initiate new charges against detainees.

Despotic Rule Look At What It Gets You

Summit agrees $2bn aid for region as family of Tunisia’s former president is arrested

Arab leaders warn of more revolts amid growing anger

Tunisia yesterday began the search for the millions of pounds believed to have been stolen by the country’s ousted leader and his family as Arab leaders were warned that dire economic conditions could provoke a Tunisian-style revolt elsewhere in the region.

Switzerland also moved to freeze assets linked to the former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and around 40 others linked to the regime. Mr Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi, who fled the country last Friday after widespread and violent public protests, are alleged to have accumulated a fortune of £2.2bn during his 23-year rule. Their relations are also accused of gaining vast fortunes through illicit means.

China Committed To Abusing Human Rights



China committed to human rights, says Hu

“LOST IN Translation” would have been the best title for the joint press conference by President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in the East Room of the White House yesterday.

“I didn’t realise there wasn’t simultaneous translation,” Mr Obama said, almost aghast, after the interminable translation of his remarks into Chinese.

Four questions were allowed, two from American journalists, two from Chinese. The process took an excruciating hour and eight minutes and seemed an allegory for the fraught but inescapable relationship between the two countries.

We Really Didn’t Mean What We Meant

Victims groups say the letter is a ‘smoking gun’ that shows the church enforced a worldwide culture of concealing crimes by pedophile priests

Vatican insists 1997 Irish abuse letter has been ‘deeply misunderstood’

The Vatican insisted yesterday that a 1997 letter warning Irish bishops against reporting priests suspected of sex abuse to police had been “deeply misunderstood.”

The contents of the letter, in which the Vatican’s top diplomat in Ireland told bishops that their policy of mandatory reporting such cases to police “gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature”, were reported on Tuesday.

What’s In A Name? A Revolution

 

How 5 revolutions got their names

The uprising credited with opening the door to other democratic revolutions in Soviet republics in the 2000s is the Bulldozer Revolution, which overthrew Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 (The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was later renamed Serbia and Montenegro).

The protests were a response to Mr. Milosevic’s political maneuvering to secure another term as president. The opposition parties rallied to run an opposition candidate who could beat Milosevic and declared victory in the election. When the electoral commission said there would need to be a runoff because neither Milosevic nor the opposition won a majority, demands intensified for Milosevic step down. He refused.

Viewing The Revolution  

Al Jazeera’s rapid-paced, visceral coverage of the Tunisian upheaval has riveted viewers across the Middle East. Many see it as a big voice in a landscape of burgeoning Arab dissent. But governments accuse it of bias.

For the Arab world, the revolution will be televised, on Al Jazeera

Reporting from Cairo – In cafes and living rooms across the Middle East, the whirling montages and breathless journalists of Al Jazeera are defining the narrative of Tunisia’s upheaval for millions of Arabs riveted by the toppling of a dictator.

The Qatar-based television network, as it does with the Iraq war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is airing visceral, round-the-clock coverage in a region of authoritarian states that rarely allow government-controlled media to show scenes of unrest. Al Jazeera is a messenger, pricking the status quo, enraging kings and presidents.

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

(Cross posted to Daily Kos, Firedoglake, and Docudharma)

I’m thinking of putting together a proposal to have a discussion/roundtable/panel at Netroots Nation this coming June 16th – 19th, in Minneapolis.

We need to the energy back into the anti-torture/pro-accountability movement. This issue will not go away, as much as we want to close our eyes because it is so painful.

My purpose for the panel/discussion/roundtable is to find ways and start the planning for a concerted effort to get torture and accountability back on the nation’s agenda.

I need YOUR help.

Even if you are not going to be there, I need YOUR help.

Pull up a chair, and let’s talk.

If you were/are going to be in Minneapolis, who would you want to hear from in this discussion/panel/roundtable?

If you were/are going to be in Minneapolis, what would you like to be discussedin this discussion/panel/roundtable?

If you were/are going to be in Minneapolis, what would you like to be accomplished from such a discussion/panel/roundtable?

If you were/are going to be in Minneapolis, what form would you like to the discussion/panel/roundtable to take ?

        Please, I need you to talk with me.

        I need your ideas.

        I need your suggestions.

        I need your questions.

                Standing for justice and accountability,

                             For Dan,

                             Heather              

Pretty much premiers.  Nova has 2 that Neil deGrasse Tyson was whoring on The Daily Show last night.

I never got to say goodbye to my father. There’s questions I would’ve asked him. I would’ve asked him how he felt about what his company did, if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch of man we remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero-accountability.

Mr. Stark! What happened over there?

I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I had more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries.

• AMC– The Walking Dead marathon
• Bravo– Top Chef marathon (with premier)
• Disney– Chicken Little
• Discovery– Mythbusters marathon (with premier)
• ESPN– College Hoopies, Duke @ North Carolina State; Hoopies, Lakers @ Mavs
• ESPN2– College Hoopies, Cincinnati @ Notre Dame, A&M @ Texas
• Food– Worst (this week’s), Restaurant: Impossible (premier)
• FX– Hancock, Iron Man
• History– Conspiracy Theories and Hell
• Lifetime– Serious Moonlight
• Oxygen– Titanic (again, most over rated movie ever)
• Turner Classic– Badlands, This Sporting Life
• TLC– Toddlers and Tiaras (premier)
• TNT– Bones marathon
• Travel– Man v. Food marathon (thank goodness, with premier)
• TV Land– Hot in Cleveland (Season Premier), Retired at 35 (Series Premier)
• USA– NCIS marathon
• Vs.– Tin Cup

Later-

• ESPN2– Australian Open
• Turner Classic– Duck Soup
• USA– Inside Man x 2

Dave hosts Martin Short and Darius Rucker.  Jon has Paul Clemens, Stephen Ron Reagan Jr..  Conan hosts Natalie Portman, Chris Pratt, and Keyshia Cole.

Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you: he really is an idiot. I implore you, send him back to his father and brothers, who are waiting for him with open arms in the penitentiary. I suggest that we give him ten years in Leavenworth, or eleven years in Twelveworth.

You’re a brave man. Go and break through the lines. And remember, while you’re out there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we’ll be in be in here thinking what a sucker you are.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Tunisian leader vows ‘total break’ with old regime

by Dario Thuburn, AFP

1 hr 42 mins ago

2 Hundreds rally against Tunisia’s new government

by Kaouther Larbi, AFP

Wed Jan 19, 6:51 am ET

3 Haiti’s ‘Baby Doc’ hopes to run for presidency

by Edouard Guihaire, AFP

52 mins ago

4 Ex-Haiti dictator ‘Baby Doc’ charged with corruption

by Clarens Renois, AFP

Tue Jan 18, 7:50 pm ET

5 South Sudan votes to secede: preliminary results

by Guillaume Lavallee, AFP

1 hr 10 mins ago

6 US, China ink $45 bln of export deals

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

Wed Jan 19, 1:28 pm ET

7 Obama, Hu air divides but seek common ground

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

30 mins ago

8 China’s Hu lands in US for state visit

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Tue Jan 18, 7:08 pm ET

9 Climate change study had ‘significant error’: experts

by Kerry Sheridan, AFP

1 hr 55 mins ago

10 Saudi Arabia quits Lebanon mediation efforts

by Jocelyne Zablit, AFP

2 hrs 34 mins ago

11 Twin suicide blasts kill 16 in central Iraq

by Ali al-Tuwaijri, AFP

Wed Jan 19, 11:08 am ET

12 Tunisia frees prisoners, says wants break with past

By Christian Lowe and Andrew Hammond, Reuters

45 mins ago

13 Obama presses China’s Hu on currency, rights

By Chris Buckley and Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

21 mins ago

14 Goldman profit slides as bond trading wilts

By Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

32 mins ago

15 Saudi ends Lebanon mediation, says country at risk

By Mariam Karouny, Reuters

2 hrs 47 mins ago

16 Swiss arrest ex-banker for giving data to WikiLeaks

By Emma Thomasson and Catherine Bosley, Reuters

9 mins ago

17 Former Swiss banker linked to WikiLeaks goes on trial

By Emma Thomasson and Martin de Sa’Pinto

Wed Jan 19, 6:36 am ET

18 Lieberman won’t seek re-election: aide

By Thomas Ferraro, Reuters

2 hrs 45 mins ago

19 Ivory Coast talks fail, Gbagbo rejects mediator

By Tim Cocks and Ange Aboa, Reuters

2 hrs 51 mins ago

20 Comcast wins approval for NBC Universal combination

By Paul Thomasch and Jasmin Melvin, Reuters

Tue Jan 18, 6:31 pm ET

21 Google investors to look beyond search

By Alexei Oreskovic, Reuters

Tue Jan 18, 8:31 pm ET

22 Analysis: New funds regulator must shed Goldman skin

By Ross Kerber and Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters

1 hr 55 mins ago

23 Apple’s bright view outshines Jobs’s plight

By Gabriel Madway, Reuters

Wed Jan 19, 5:48 am ET

24 U.S. officials privately say WikiLeaks damage limited

By Mark Hosenball, Reuters

Tue Jan 18, 4:33 pm ET

25 South Sudan seeks millions for war-hit wildlife

By Jason Benham, Reuters

Tue Jan 18, 7:59 am ET

26 Sen. Joe Lieberman says he will retire in 2012

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN and SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press

1 hr 16 mins ago

27 House nears vote to repeal health care law

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

23 mins ago

28 Obama, Hu spar over human rights, hail econ ties

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON and JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

16 mins ago

29 DA: Pa. abortion doc killed 7 babies with scissors

By PATRICK WALTERS and MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

44 mins ago

30 Tunisia calms as government rejects old guard

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press

1 hr 7 mins ago

31 Lawyer: Duvalier plans to remain in Haiti

By BEN FOX, Associated Press

24 mins ago

32 Old dog, new tricks: Study IDs 9,400-year-old mutt

By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press

Wed Jan 19, 8:58 am ET

33 Banks say fewer consumer loans are going bad

By PALLAVI GOGOI and EILEEN AJ CONNELLY, AP Business Writers

9 mins ago

34 AP Exclusive: Insurers profit on Medicare float

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

Wed Jan 19, 6:30 am ET

35 GOP spending cuts would affect millions of people

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

Wed Jan 19, 6:31 am ET

36 Vatican: 1997 Irish abuse letter ‘misunderstood’

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

1 hr 24 mins ago

37 NYC’s Bloomberg sets sights on pension reform

By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press

5 mins ago

38 Spike in suicides for Army Guard and Reserve

BY PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press

9 mins ago

39 Jury hears tapes of ex-CIA operative in English

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

46 mins ago

40 Year after airlift to Pa., Haitian children thrive

By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press

1 hr 49 mins ago

41 Backpack bomb found at MLK event rattles Spokane

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press

2 hrs 19 mins ago

42 Bacteria bigger threat to citrus than cold weather

By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press

Wed Jan 19, 3:26 am ET

43 Texas budget draft cuts $13.7 billion in spending

By APRIL CASTRO, Associated Press

Wed Jan 19, 1:41 am ET

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

New York Times Editorial: Poverty and Recovery

In 2008, the first year of the Great Recession, the number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.7 million to nearly 47.5 million. While hugely painful, that rise wasn’t surprising given the unraveling economy. What is surprising is that recent census data show that those poverty numbers held steady in 2009, even though job loss worsened significantly that year.

Clearly, the sheer scale of poverty – 15.7 percent of the country’s population – is unacceptable. But to keep millions more Americans from falling into poverty during a deep recession is a genuine accomplishment that holds a vital lesson: the safety net, fortified by stimulus, staved off an even more damaging crisis.

Congress should take a good look at those numbers, and consider that lesson carefully, before it commits to any more slashing and burning.

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Reversing ‘Citizens United’

It will be a year this week since Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative activist colleagues on the Supreme Court joined together in a dramatic assault on American democracy. Their decision in the Citizens United case overturned more than a century’s worth of precedent by awarding corporations the rights of citizens with regard to electioneering. The court did away with limits on when corporations can spend on elections, how much they can spend and how they can spend their money, allowing unlimited contributions from corporate treasuries to flood the electoral landscape.

As The Nation noted in the days after the case was decided, “This decision tips the balance against active citizenship and the rule of law by making it possible for the nation’s most powerful economic interests to manipulate not just individual politicians and electoral contests but political discourse itself.”

Glenn Greenwald: The Vindication (by Barack Obama) of Dick Cheney

In the early months of Obama’s presidency, the American Right did to him what they do to every Democratic politician:  they accused him of being soft on defense (specifically “soft on Terror”) and leaving the nation weak and vulnerable to attack.  But that tactic quickly became untenable as everyone (other than his hardest-core followers) was forced to acknowledge that Obama was embracing and even expanding — rather than reversing — the core Bush/Cheney approach to Terrorism.  As a result, leading right-wing figures began lavishing Obama with praise — and claiming vindication — based on Obama’s switch from harsh critic of those policies (as a candidate) to their leading advocate (once in power).

As early as May, 2009, former Bush OLC lawyer Jack Goldsmith wrote in The New Republic that Obama was not only continuing Bush/Cheney Terrorism policies, but was strengthening them — both because he was causing them to be codified in law and, more important, converting those policies from right-wing dogma into harmonious bipartisan consensus.  Obama’s decision “to continue core Bush terrorism policies is like Nixon going to China,” Goldsmith wrote.  Last October, former Bush NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden — one of the most ideological Bush officials, whose confirmation as CIA chief was opposed by then-Sen. Obama on the ground he had overseen the illegal NSA spying program — gushed with praise for Obama: “there’s been a powerful continuity between the 43rd and the 44th president.”  James Jay Carafano, a homeland-security expert at the Heritage Foundation, told The New York Times’ Peter Baker last January: “I don’t think it’s even fair to call it Bush Lite.  It’s Bush.  It’s really, really hard to find a difference that’s meaningful and not atmospheric.“

Ari Melber: Why Roger Ailes Watches Fox News on Mute

“There are no parties that I want to go to, and I didn’t go to Columbia journalism school.”

Those are Roger Ailes’ qualifications to be one of the most important people in media, according to Roger Ailes.  The Fox News chief volunteered his opposition to parties and professors in an interview with Tom Junod, an Esquire reporter who just penned a sprawling, personality-mirroring profile of the most successful media strategist in American politics. Beyond the machinations of mere campaigns – where he also logged some time – Ailes led and continues to personify modern conservatives’ mastery of TV.  Good television is made of good stories, of course, and Ailes has his down pat.  It was one year and one week ago, in fact, when he told the New York Times why he was fit to run Fox News:  “My first qualification is I didn’t go to Columbia Journalism School. There are no parties in this town that I want to go to.”

At least the shtick is consistent.

John Nichols: Big Media Gets a Whole Lot Bigger as Obama’s FCC and Justice Department OK Comcast/NBC Merger

As brutal ironies go, it will be tough to beat this one.

On the same day that President Obama launched a drive to identify what he referred to as “excessive” regulation of business, the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice-both of which are defined by his appointments-effectively abandoned more than a century of antitrust principles and approved one of the biggest corporate mergers in American history.

Instead of regulating the telecommunications industry, the FCC’s vote to approve Comcast’s proposed acquisition of a majority stake in NBC Universal-creating a conglomerate that will be the largest cable provider, the largest Internet provider and one of the largest producers of content in the United States-represents the ultimate surrender to the demands of corporate America. traditional protections against media monopoly are abandoned.

Laura Flanders: Cutting Taxes Is Breaking the Economy

It scored the cover of The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Paul Krugman’s feature, “Can Europe Be Saved?” And a quick read may have left American readers feeling reassured. At least Americans aren’t in the Europeans’ fix with their common currency, enduring safety net, shared responsibilities and all that socialisty stuff.

Focus tightly enough on Europe and it’s just possible to ignore what’s really making business news. Namely us. Last week the World Bank warned of “serious tensions and pitfalls” ahead in the global economy, and less than 3 percent growth for the United States. That came on the heels of the news that the United States could lose its triple-A credit rating if the national debt keeps going up.

Dean Baker: Making Social Security More Progressive: The Games They Play in Washington

The Washington insiders may not be very honest in their efforts to cut Social Security, but they deserve some sympathy. After all, on policy grounds they have no case.

Social Security is an incredibly effective program. It provides a core retirement income to tens of millions of people, while insuring almost the entire workforce against disability or early death. And, it does this at an administrative cost that is about one-tenth as high as private insurers charge. In addition, it is fully solvent long into the future.

They have an even harder time with the politics. Social Security is enormously popular across the political spectrum from the left-wing of the Democratic Party to the devout Tea Party faithful.

In short, those who want to cut Social Security must overcome the fact that they have no argument on policy grounds and their scheme faces enormous political opposition. As a result, the Washington insiders have no choice. If they want to cut Social Security they will have to lie, cheat and steal. And the Washington insiders are very good at these tactics.

Josh Silver: Comcastrophe: Comcast/NBC Merger Approved

Today, the Federal Communications Commission blessed the merger of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable and residential Internet provider, with NBC-Universal. The Justice Department is expected to follow suit right away, removing the last obstacle to the unprecedented consolidation of media and Internet power in the hands of one company.

You should be afraid and mad as hell.

The new Comcast will control an obscene number of media outlets, including the NBC broadcast network, numerous cable channels, two dozen local NBC and Telemundo stations, movie studios, online video portals, and the physical network that distributes that media content to millions of Americans through Internet and cable connections.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 346 days remaining until the end of the year (347 in leap years).

On this day in 1853, Giuseppe Verdi‘s opera Il Trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.

Il trovatore (The Troubadour) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador (1836) by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto. This gave the composer the opportunity to propose significant revisions, which were accomplished under his direction by the young librettist, Leone Emanuele Bardare, and they are seen largely in the expansion of the role of Leonora.

The opera was first performed at the Teatro Apollo, Rome, on 19 January 1853 where it “began a victorious march throughout the operatic world”. Today it is given very frequently and is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire. It appears at number 17 on Opera America‘s list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.

Cultural references

Enrico Caruso once said that all it takes for successful performance of Il trovatore is the four greatest singers in the world. On many different occasions, this opera and its music have been featured in various forms of popular culture and entertainment. Scenes of comic chaos play out over a performance of Il trovatore in the Marx Brothers‘s film, A Night at the Opera. Luchino Visconti used a performance of Il trovatore at La Fenice opera house for the opening sequence of his 1954 film Senso. As Manrico sings his battle cry in “Di quella pira”, the performance is interrupted by the answering cries of Italian nationalists in the audience. In Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, Millicent Marcus proposes that Visconti used this operatic paradigm throughout Senso, with parallels between the opera’s protagonists, Manrico and Leonora, and the film’s protagonists, Ussoni and Livia.

 1419 – Hundred Years’ War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy.

1511 – Mirandola surrenders to the French.

1520 – Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund.

1607 – San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.

1764 – John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.

1788 – The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay.

1795 – The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.

1806 – The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope.

1812 – Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.

1817 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General Jose de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.

1829 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust Part 1 receives its premiere performance.

1839 – The British East India Company captures Aden.

1840 – Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what became known as Wilkes Land for the United States.

1853 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.

1861 – American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in seceding from the United States.

1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs – The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.

1871 – Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.

1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.

1893 – Henrik Ibsen’s play The Master Builder receives its premiere performance in Berlin.

1899 – Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.

1915 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

1915 – World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.

1917 – Silvertown explosion: 73 are killed and 400 injured in an explosion in a munitions plant in London.

1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.

1935 – Coopers Inc. sells the world’s first briefs.

1937 – Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles, California to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.

1942 – World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma

1945 – World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Lodz ghetto. Out more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.

1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.

1949 – Cuba recognizes Israel.

1953 – 68% of all television sets in the United States are tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.

1969 – Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire 3 days earlier in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968.

His funeral turned into another major protest.

1975 – An earthquake strikes Himachal Pradesh, India

1977 – President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino (a.k.a. “Tokyo Rose”).

1977 – Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snow has fallen. It also fell in the Bahamas.

1978 – The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America would continue until 2003.

1981 – Iran Hostage Crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.

1983 – The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.

1991 – Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries in.

1993 – Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.

1996 – The barge North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

1997 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

1999 – British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.

2006 – A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crashes in Hungary.

2006 – The New Horizons probe is launched by NASA on the first mission to Pluto.

2007 – Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper’s office by 17 year old Turkish ultranationalist Ogun Samast.

Holidays and observances

   * Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (commemorated by the Poe Toaster at his grave in Baltimore)

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Henry of Uppsala

         o Maris, Martha, Abachum and Audifax

         o Mark of Ephesus

         o Pontianus

         o Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester

         o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J… January 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)]

   * Confederate Heroes Day (Texas)

   * Feast of Sultan (Sovereignty), first day of the 17th month of the Baha’i calendar (Baha’i Faith)

   * Theophany / Epiphany (Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy), and its related observances:

         o Timkat, or 20 during Leap Year (Ethiopian Orthodox)

   * Vodici or Baptism of Jesus (Republic of Macedonia)

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

In a surprising move, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti on Sunday from exile in France 25 years after being driven out by mass protests. He didn’t speak to reporters and statements from those who spoke with him would only say that he was happy to be back in Haiti:

Baby Doc, along with his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, were feared and reviled by Haitians for their long reign of terror. The Duvaliers tortured and killed their political opponents with impunity, backed by the Tonton Macoute secret police.

In 1986 Haitians danced in the streets when the young, pudgy tyrant was driven to the airport in a black limousine and flown into exile in France. But a handful of loyalists have been campaigning to bring Duvalier home, launching a foundation to improve the dictatorship’s image and reviving Baby Doc’s political party in the hopes that one day he can return to power democratically.

The prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said that if Duvalier was involved in any political activities, he was unaware of them. “He is a Haitian and, as such, is free to return home,” the prime minister told the Associated Press.

In 2007, President Rene Preval said that Duvalier could return but would have to face justice for the deaths of thousands of people and the theft of millions of dollars.

With the prodding of world wide protests, the Préval government made good on their word arresting Duvalier and charging him with corruption:

Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier was charged with corruption and the theft of his country’s meagre funds last night after the former Haitian dictator was hauled before a judge in Port-au-Prince

Two days after his return to the country he left following a brutal 15-year rule, a noisy crowd of his supporters protested outside the state prosecutor’s office while he was questioned over accusations that he stole public funds and committed human rights abuses after taking over as president from his father in 1971.

“His fate is now in the hands of the investigating judge. We have brought charges against him,” said Port-au-Prince’s chief prosecutor, Aristidas Auguste.

He said his office had filed charges against Duvalier, 59, of corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and other alleged crimes committed during his period in power.

Those charges seem pretty mild for someone as the New York Times says “is widely blamed for one of the darkest chapters in the country’s history – and whose government has been accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering thousands of political opponents.”

There are more than a few questions about not just the reason for Duvalier’s return but why he was not stopped from returning to a country devastated by an earthquake, in the midst of a cholera epidemic and disputed elections. Marcy Wheeler at FDL details the efforts that were made blocking Duvalier’s return in 2006:

Five years ago, BabyDoc Duvalier applied for a passport for Haiti, threatening to return in a period leading up to elections. As a series of Wikileaks cables make clear, the US pressed hard-with apparent success-to prevent his return to Haiti. One cable shows the US asking France, on January 11, 2006, whether it could prevent Duvalier from leaving that country. Another shows the US raising concerns about Duvalier with Haiti Prime Minister Latortue that same day, and again on January 16. And the US raised the same concerns with the Dominican Republic, first (as far as we can tell from the cables) on January 11 and then again on February 7, 2006.

So what happened? The US made a concerted effort to stop his return in 2006. As Marcy asks, was the Obama administration unable to stop him, or did they choose let him return?

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) has some questions, too. In a statement released yesterday, Rep, Waters expressing her concern and demanding that Duvalier be prosecuted for human rights violations but called for an investigation into his return:

It is absurd and outrageous that anyone would even think to take advantage of this situation to facilitate Baby Doc Duvalier’s return to Haiti.  Unfortunately, he has returned, and it is important to ask why.  Who assisted Duvalier in his return?  Where did he get the money to pay for his return?  Were any officials of the U.S. Government aware of his plans to return?  Was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) aware?  If so, was any action taken to stop him from returning or to ensure that he would be arrested and prosecuted for his crimes and not allowed to usurp power if he did return?

I am deeply concerned that the wealthy elites of Haiti who supported the Duvalier regime in the past, along with the assistance of international agencies, may have encouraged Duvalier to return in the hope that the flawed elections will create a power vacuum that could allow him to take power once again.  I am even more concerned that OAS officials may be wittingly or unwittingly helping to create precisely the type of power vacuum that would enable him to do so.

It is important that we determine what role U.S. officials played, if any, in facilitating Duvalier’s return.  It is even more important that we determine what role the U.S. Government will play moving forward.

Lots of questions, indeed.

Up Date: There is some positive news about the 25 year battle to recover the funds stolen by Duvalier and deposited in a Swiss bank account. The assets were frozen by Switzerland which until the new change in the law were only able to freeze the assets “for a limited period to allow space for attempts to seek restitution through the courts, a measure it stretched to its very limit with the assets from Haiti.”

As of February 1 a new law will allow The Haitian government to recover funds held in Swiss bank.

Almost all premiers.  V.  PBS has Pioneers of Television– Science Fiction.

You want to be a good archaeologist, you’ve got to get out of the library!

• ABC Family– Along Came Polly
• AMC– The Walking Dead marathon
• Bravo– Golden Globes repeat
• Comedy– Onion SportsDome (premier)
• Disney– Legally Blondes
• Discovery– Dirty Jobs (last week’s and new), Auction Kings (premier)
• ESPN– College Hoopies, Michigan State @ Illinois, Kentucky @ Alabama
• ESPN2– College Hoopies, Colorado @ Nebraska, Australian Open
• Food– Cupcake Wars, Chopped (premiers)
• FX– Hancock, Lights Out x 3 (premier and Instapeats)
• National Geographic– Rome and the Middle Ages
• Oxygen– The Perfect Man
• Sci Fi– Next Gen marathon
• TBS– Family Guy marathon, Glory Daze (premier)
• Turner Classic– Screen Directors Playhouse marathon (premiers)
• TLC– What Not To Wear (premier)
• TNT– Transformers (again)
• Toon– Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins
• Travel– Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern (premier)
• USA– Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, White Collar (premier)
• Vs.– Canadiens @ Sabres

Later-

• Oxygen– Titanic

Dave hosts Betty White, Kardashians, and The Script.  Jon has Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Cornel West.  Conan hosts Jennifer Garner and Gabriel Iglesias.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Crossposted at Daily Kos and Docudharma

:: ::

THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

:: ::

INTRODUCTION

:: ::

An Appeal to the “Better Angels of Our Nature”

Among developed democratic countries, the United States is the only country where the President is not only the head of government but also the head of the nation.  Under the best of circumstances, it is a tricky balancing act for the President cannot be seen as exploiting moments of triumph or tragedy for the nation to his political advantage.  And, yet, given that the two roles are merged, there is undoubtedly a political dimension.  As I listened last Wednesday night to President Barack Obama deliver his moving and eloquent tribute to the victims of this senseless tragedy in Tucson, Arizona my mind drifted back to the mid-1990’s when I lived in England attending one of my graduate schools.

(Critical Condition by Nick Anderson, Comics.com, see the large number of reader comments in the Houston Chronicle)

I often used to engage my classmates from other countries in vigorous debate about the many seeming contradictions that define what it means to be an American.  It is what one does as a student.  It is how you compare and contrast yourself to others.  It is how you learn about your strengths, shortcomings, and inadequacies.  No matter the number of years spent in school studying the great issues of the day and even as one learns about other countries, cultures, and traditions, the greater the realization how little one really knows.  It can be a humbling experience.

These arguments in grad school included, for example, many diverse topics such as, why do individuals have so many rights in America? Are millions of guns really necessary in what supposedly is an enlightened and developed society? Why do Americans tolerate so much inequality of wealth and income?  And, on and on.  And even as they questioned so many of these features of American life, most of them were quite interested in moving here and working in, as a German classmate of mine once told me, the “most egalitarian country” in the world. Quite a few had done internships in the U.S. Congress, studied in American universities, and visited friends and relatives in America.  No matter where they hailed from — and they were from every corner of the world — many have a cultural affinity for this country.  It is a claim few other countries, if any, could legitimately make with any sort of historical justification.  We are in many ways the world’s cultural melting pot.

(Rex Babin, McLatchy Cartoons/Sacramento Bee, click link to enlarge cartoon)

My response to these pointed questions was to frequently state that just like this vast, complex, sprawling, and pluralistic country, the American character is full of irreconcilable contradictions. Equality of opportunity and fairness for all are, to cite two societal goals, what this country strives for but even as it professes through its founding documents to keep hoping for a “more perfect union” it, often, has failed to live up to its ideals.  And, yet, perhaps more than any other country in the world, it remains a magnet for other people seeking a better life.  It is often said that you can permanently move to, say France or Germany, but perhaps never actually become French or German.  Some things take generations to achieve.  You can indeed migrate to this country and largely succeed in becoming an American.  There are millions of examples of such transformations all around us in our cities and suburbs.  

One of the best examples of this “contradictory” nature of this country was a monologue first delivered in 1975 by the late George Carlin in which he compared the two most popular of American sports, baseball and football.  As Carlin brilliantly elucidates, the two sports not only embody some of our values but capture the emotions that so many of us periodically experience.  It touches upon several of the themes that define our daily lives: peace vs aggression; complexity vs simplicity; individual success vs collective failure; serenity vs turmoil; ambition vs contentment; certainty vs uncertainty; aggression vs pacifism; patience vs impatience; and reason vs irrationality.  In some respects, you could say that in his routine, Carlin compares our inner Locke to our outer Hobbes in discussing these two very different sports.  And how we, as humans, reconcile these many contradictory impulses.  

George Carlin Obit by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

Baseball & football are the two most popular spectator sports in this country. And as such, it seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves and our values.

I enjoy comparing baseball and football:

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.

Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park.  The baseball park!

Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.

Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.

Football begins in the fall, when everything’s dying.

In football you wear a helmet.

In baseball you wear a cap.

Football is concerned with downs – what down is it?

Baseball is concerned with ups – who’s up?

In football you receive a penalty.

In baseball you make an error.

In football the specialist comes in to kick.

In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.

Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.

Baseball has the sacrifice.

Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog…

In baseball, if it rains, we don’t go out to play.

Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.

Football has the two minute warning.

Baseball has no time limit: we don’t know when it’s gonna end – might have extra innings.

Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we’ve got to go to sudden death.

In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there’s kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there’s not too much unpleasantness.  In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you’re capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.

And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun.  With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home!  And to be safe! – I hope I’ll be safe at home!

:: ::

Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

Following the best examples of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life — whose accomplishments and many sacrifices of behalf of all Americans we celebrate today — President Barack Obama appealed for calm and civility.  We expect our leader to embody our most-cherished values as a nation. In what may have been his best speech ever, he passed the test with flying colors — as contrasted to the pathetic response from his political opponents in the past few days.

(Joel Pett, McLatchy Cartoons/Lexington Herald-Leader, click link to enlarge cartoon)

Befitting the moment, the President only briefly alluded to the many different aspects of this senseless tragedy.  Editorial cartoonists, however, used their platforms to explore different issues that have come to the fore in the past week.  What are the limits of acceptable political speech and the role of the opposition party?  How should ordinary citizens and their Congressional representatives behave in times like these?  Is it the prevalence of guns or mental illness that results in such horrific murders? This diary explores all these questions through the brilliant graphical illustrations of our leading editorial cartoonists.  It is interesting to note that foreign editorial cartoonists — not unlike many of my former classmates in England — took a much harsher approach for they cannot understand why we, as a country, allow guns to cause so much violence and carnage every year.

Will the President’s call for civility result in a kinder and gentler approach by all participants in coming weeks and months?  He did his job.  Will all of us do the same?  Given our violent history, I am afraid that won’t be the case.

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

:: ::

2. The Incredibly Shrinking Sarah Palin

:: ::

Bors dismatles the arguments often made by wingnuts which assert that irresponsible political rhetoric has no effect on our political culture

Lone Nuts

I don’t think Palin or the Tea Party is directly responsible for inspiring this massacre in Arizona.  But there’s a reason she scrubbed her website, deleted tweets, and had surrogates argue that those weren’t targets on her map, but “surveyor’s marks.”  That she has to insult us with these lies is telling.  It’s not that she feels guilty — it’s that she’s so self-absorbed she thinks she’s a victim here for being called to answer for her rhetoric.

There’s a certain amount of war rhetoric that goes into campaigning.  I’m not in favor of being overly sensitive about these things to the point where you can’t use a colorful metaphor.  But we saw a health care reform debate and then an election where people were openly carrying guns, talking about watering the tree of liberty with blood and using “second amendment remedies” for Senators.  A sheriff steps over the dead bodies in his town to mention these things might be inappropriate and he’s the one being blasted for making inappropriate comments.

And that’s where we are at.  You can’t talk about the issues underneath this without being accused of “politicizing” it.  The shooter is crazy and incoherent enough that we can all comfortably write him off as a “lone nut,” America’s favorite term to absolve us from looking at any of the societal problems that causes this type of behavior — or, god forbid, the tools he used to kill so many so fast.  Unless the shooter fits into the binary mold of a mainstream liberal or conservative, we are content to pretend his behavior took place in a vacuum. “A lone nut! you’ll get those.”

And we will.  See you back here next massacre.

American Exceptionalism by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

The Bullhorn by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Danziger, Yahoo Comics/New York Times Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Palin Explains by Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

3. Does the Republican Party Stand For Anything?

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Arizona Transplants by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon

Rhetorical Civility by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Obama Kenyanese by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

4. A Culture of Guns and Violence

Ed Stein, Comics.com (formerly of the Rocky Moutain News), see reader comments on Stein’s blog

:: ::

Stein points the finger in the direction of those who carelessly throw around code words and then absolve themselves of all consequences

It now appears that Representative Gabrielle Giffords was the target of an assassination plot.  The reasons are unknown, and it’s too early to claim categorically that the shooting of Ms. Giffords and the other victims was motivated by a political grievance.  That said, it’s not hard to believe that the poisonous political climate of the last few years can move an unstable person to violence.  Indeed, the past summer, featuring rage-filled shoutdowns at town hall meetings, gleefully promoted by Fox News and conservative talk show hosts, led to hundreds of threats against members of Congress.  The poster symbol of the anger and intolerance may well be the map Sarah Palin posted on her website during the election, highlighting targeted Democratic congressional districts with crosshairs…

Now, of course, the same folks who gloried in the over-the-top rhetoric, who infused the political debate with violent imagery, are shocked at the bloodshed.  I’d like to believe that this event will force us all to reconsider how we conduct the political discourse in this country, but I suspect that, after a brief pause, we will go on as before.  Too many pundits make their living stoking the public rage, and too many politicians have learned to capitalize on that anger.  The mainstream politicians all responded with appropriate horror and sadness (as well they should, given the danger they are all exposed to), as did many of the Tea Party leaders.  Then there was Judson Phillips, founder of the Tea Party Nation, whose immediate response to the carnage was this: “The hard left is going to try and silence the Tea Party movement by blaming us… the shooter was a liberal lunatic.  Emphasis on both words.”

So much for soul-searching.

Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

Gun Culture by Cam Cardow, Ottawa Citizen, Buy this cartoon

After The Arizona Killing by Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Danziger, Yahoo Comics/New York Times Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Too Easy to Buy a Gun by Olle Johansson (Sweden), Buy this cartoon

Bill Day, Comics.com (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)

:: ::

5. The National Rifle Association and the U.S. Congress

Congress Caves to the NRA by Chan Lowe, Comics.com (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

:: ::

In spite of this terrible tragedy, Lowe is not very optimistic that sensible gun laws will be enacted

Since this has turned into Gun Theme Week, I don’t have much more to say beyond my discourse of a couple of days ago, except that if you are one of those people who worry about the tyranny of our federal government, you can stand down.

As long as the NRA exists, with its awesome fundraising power and ability to turn out single-issue voters when it counts, congresspersons of both parties will quake and cower.

Yes, our representatives and senators know that there is no justifiable need for extended clips.  They know that assault rifles are an invitation to mayhem, but they also have a highly-developed sense of self-preservation that, sadly, overwhelms any impulse to do what’s best for their country.

You want to talk tyranny?  It’s as clear as the view through your telescopic sight.

Gun Almighty by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Poster Boy by Aislin, Montreal Gazette, Buy this cartoon

NRA Discipline by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Paul Szep, Comics.com

Democracy in the Crosshairs by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

7. Access to the Treatment of Mental Illnesses

Easy Access by Nick Anderson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Houston Chronicle)

Steve Breen, Comics.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald, Buy this cartoon

Tuscon Shooting by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

8. The Victims of the Tucson Tragedy

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

Rex Babin, Sacramento Bee, Buy this cartoon

Live Up to Her by Nate Beeler, Washington Examiner, Buy this cartoon

Chip Bok, Comics.com

Sheriff Dupnik by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon

Tucson Shooting Victims Tribute by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

A Note About the Diary Poll

History of Boomer Political Involvement by Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

The first wave of the Baby Boomers turned sixty five on January 1, 2011 as I detailed in this recent diary.

Many years after The Big Chill was released in movie theaters, I recall Director Lawrence Kasdan being interviewed on television (it may have been on PBS’ The Charlie Rose Show) in which he was asked as to what he meant by the term “big chill.”  Now, most people had assumed that it was a reference to the Baby Boomers (in many instances) “selling out” and ditching their political ideals from the tumultuous 1960’s and 1970’s and as they moved into their thirties, starting families and vigorously engaging in commercial pursuits.  Not so, said Kasdan.  He explained that the term implied a chilling attitude that a person had towards old friends that he or she may not have seen in years.  As you recall, The Big Chill is a movie which involves a reunion of several college friends from the University of Michigan who haven’t seen each other in over a decade.  Attending a former classmates’ funeral, the movie details how their lives and social/economic priorities had changed in the intervening years.

Many critics have described The Big Chill as one of the most influential movies about the baby boomers. Though not a complete list, many other movies that may have defined their lives are listed here, here, and here.  If you’ve seen any of these movies listed in the diary poll or heard about them, I’d surely like to know more about your impressions.

Remember to take the diary poll.

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