Author: HL

Obama’s West Point Speech Shows Signs of Smart “National Security Strategy”
President Barack Obama’s speech at West Point on Saturday may be among the most important he has yet made during his sixteen month old presidency. The speech intimates a number of the key themes likely to appear in the National…


United States – National security – Afghanistan – Barack Obama – Warfare and Conflict

The Challenge of Closing Tax Loopholes For Billionaires
Who could be opposed to closing a tax loophole that allows hedge-fund and private equity managers to treat their earnings as capital gains – and pay a rate of only 15 percent rather than the 35 percent applied to ordinary…

What’s the Deal With Brazil, Turkey, and Iran?
If it seems like there are a lot of issues embedded in the dueling diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program, it’s because there are a lot of issues embedded in… Rising powers asserting their influence, the efficacy of sanctions, American fetishes…

Steele Sides With Israeli Settlers At Central Park Rally: Obama Has ?Left Israel To Fend For Herself?
On Saturday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared at a right-wing pro-Israeli settler rally in New York’s Central Park, trashing the Obama administration’s policy toward Israel, and rejecting further Israeli “concessions” to the peace process. “It grieves me to the core,” said Steele, “to have to admit that today the American government has abdicated her […]

On Saturday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared at a right-wing pro-Israeli settler rally in New York’s Central Park, trashing the Obama administration’s policy toward Israel, and rejecting further Israeli “concessions” to the peace process.

“It grieves me to the core,” said Steele, “to have to admit that today the American government has abdicated her traditional solidarity with Israel”:

Today, Israel truly stands alone among governments. Facing existential threats more dangerous and more imminent than ever before. That’s not to say that Israel has been abandoned, however, by the American people. But there is no denying that the current administration and its Congressional collaborators have left Israel to fend for herself.

Watch it:

It would be interesting to hear Steele explain how the Obama administration’s request for — and its Congressional “collaborators’” approval of — an additional $205 million in assistance for Israel for the “Iron Dome” short-range missile defense system squares with his assertion that the U.S. is “leaving Israel to fend for herself.”

Furthermore, as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month, despite tensions over Israeli settlements, under the Obama administration the U.S. and Israel “actually have undertaken a broad effort at military and strategic cooperation — including supplying Israel with sophisticated American military equipment — to counter threats from Iran and Hezbollah fighters armed by Syria.”

Accusing the Obama administration of having an “appeasement-first mentality,” Steele went on to insist that “For the sake of Jerusalem, we must not be silent”:

For the sake of Jerusalem, we must no longer allow this or any administration to second-guess the relationship between Israel and America. For the sake of Jerusalem, the world can longer demand that Israel sell out the security of her people, and make every concession in the book just on the off-chance that a Palestinian leadership might show up at the bargaining table willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Steele shouldn’t have to be reminded of this, but pressuring Israel to honor its own past commitments to cease settlement construction does not in any sense qualify as a “concession.” These commitments were made as part of agreements brokered by the United States and its partners, whose credibility is negatively impacted by the refusal of the parties to meet their obligations. This doesn’t seem to bother Steele.

And, just in point of fact, the Palestinians already showed up at the bargaining table willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and did so — back in 1993.

As was noted in a previous post, this rally was sponsored by some of the most hardcore pro-settler organizations in the country, groups that actively support the takeover of Palestinian land by violent Jewish religious extremists. It’s disgraceful that Steele would even appear at such an event in the first place, let alone go and tell transparent, pandering lies about the Obama administration’s policies and encourage the most rejectionist elements in Israeli politics in the interest of getting a few more votes for Republicans.

Obama backs ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ compromise that could pave way for repeal
President Obama has endorsed a “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise between lawmakers and the Defense Department, the White House announced Monday, an agreement that may sidestep a key obstacle to repealing the military’s policy banning gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces.



Barack Obama – President – United States – don’t ask don’t tell – History

Obama administration conflicted about relying on BP to stop gulf oil spill
The tenuous alliance among the Obama administration, the oil firm BP and Gulf Coast officials was visibly fraying on Monday, with exasperation on all sides mounting as oil from a deep-water gusher began lapping at the region’s environmentally fragile shoreline.


Oil spill – Environment – Energy – Petroleum in the Environment – United States

Federal Eye: ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ compromise in the works
White House officials, Democratic congressional leaders and gay rights groups met on Monday to discuss a possible repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.


don’t ask don’t tell – United States – Health – Barack Obama – Joint Chiefs of Staff

President Obama seeks new version of line-item veto
As part of what the White House called a campaign to crack down on wasteful government spending, President Obama on Monday asked Congress to grant him new powers to slice lawmakers’ pet projects from congressionally approved spending bills.



Barack Obama – President – Line-item veto – United States – History

Senate bill brings new powers, new pressures for Fed
The Federal Reserve, a target of bipartisan bashing during the past two years, has emerged a big winner in the financial overhaul passed by the Senate, but the broader powers granted by the legislation expose the central bank to new risks.


United States – Government – Senate – Legislative Branch – United States Senate

Jeb Bush on the Republican Future
Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard
“It is all about a four-letter word: jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. We are all about jobs.”�”"Nancy Pelosi, May 4, 2010It would have taken a heart of stone not to laugh. Wheeled out earlier this month for celebrations to mark his 80th birthday, a rickety Helmut Kohl announced that the fate of the EU's floundering single currency was a matter of life and death: “European unification is a question of war and peace .”�”�.”�”�. and the euro is part of our guarantee of peace.”� West PointCoral Gables, FloridaJeb Bush is not running…

Obama Should Have Stood Up to Calderon

Russia is Getting Its ‘Sphere’ Back

Alexander Emerges as Trusted Adviser to McConnell

Late Late Night FDL: Carnac The Magnificent
Johnny Carson as Carnac The Magnificent, featuring Ed McMahon. This skit aired on The Tonight Show in February, 1981.

Johnny Carson as Carnac The Magnificent, featuring Ed McMahon.  This skit aired on The Tonight Show in February, 1981.

What’s on your mind?

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Early Morning Swim

• Great messaging, guys.
• Drill baby, drill.
• So, the biggest problem we face right now is wasteful spending?
• Let’s hope so.
• Obama vs. the corporations.
• Is this the best we can do?

• Great messaging, guys.
• Drill baby, drill.
• So, the biggest problem we face right now is wasteful spending?
• Let’s hope so.
• Obama vs. the corporations.
• Is this the best we can do?

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The Spirit of ‘86
I was in college in the Spring of 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had its meltdown. Without Twitter, Blogs or Facebook we actually had to sit around and hyperventilate with each other face-to-face, it was terrible. One thing we did have is Reagan Administration officials on television telling us that non-commie […]

I was in college in the Spring of 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had its meltdown. Without Twitter, Blogs or Facebook we actually had to sit around and hyperventilate with each other face-to-face, it was terrible.

One thing we did have is Reagan Administration officials on television telling us that non-commie nuclear reactors were perfectly safe and we need to build more– “why look at France” they said, “the French nuclear reactors are wonderful!” Republicans praising France, it was a different time. But still, no new nuclear plants were getting built.

Move forward a quarter-century and without the Soviets to kick around these ecological disasters just cannot be spun so easily, so things go in reverse.

In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers have been granted, according to records.

That’s quite a re-imagining of the definition of moratorium — and speaking of moratoriums.

Meanwhile, the oil geyser gets worse. Maybe we should bring in those Russian folks who fixed the problems at Chernobyl? Oh…right.

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U.S. Base Will Stay on Okinawa
Despite campaign promises and widespread protests, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has finally made the widely unpopular decision to allow the relocation of a U.S. military base on Okinawa. Hatoyama had been on the fence for months on how to resolve the issue, with his approval rating plunging to less than 25 percent. —JCL The New York Times: Apologizing for failing to fulfill a prominent campaign promise, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told outraged residents of Okinawa on Sunday that he has decided to relocate an American air base to the north side of the island as originally agreed upon with the United States. On his second visit to Okinawa this month, Mr. Hatoyama for first time conceded what Japanese media had been reporting for weeks: that he would accept Washington’s demands and honor a 2006 agreement to move the United States Marine Air Station Futenma to the island’s less populated north. The decision is a humiliating setback for Mr. Hatoyama on a problem that has consumed his young government and could prove its undoing. Before last year’s historic election victory, he had vowed to move the base off of Okinawa or even out of Japan. But his apparent wavering on the issue helped drive his approval ratings below 25 percent. Read more

Despite campaign promises and widespread protests, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has finally made the widely unpopular decision to allow the relocation of a U.S. military base on Okinawa.

Hatoyama had been on the fence for months on how to resolve the issue, with his approval rating plunging to less than 25 percent. —JCL

The New York Times:

Apologizing for failing to fulfill a prominent campaign promise, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told outraged residents of Okinawa on Sunday that he has decided to relocate an American air base to the north side of the island as originally agreed upon with the United States.

On his second visit to Okinawa this month, Mr. Hatoyama for first time conceded what Japanese media had been reporting for weeks: that he would accept Washington’s demands and honor a 2006 agreement to move the United States Marine Air Station Futenma to the island’s less populated north.

The decision is a humiliating setback for Mr. Hatoyama on a problem that has consumed his young government and could prove its undoing. Before last year’s historic election victory, he had vowed to move the base off of Okinawa or even out of Japan. But his apparent wavering on the issue helped drive his approval ratings below 25 percent.

Read more

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Alex Blaze: Democrats Don’t Have the Right to Laugh at Rand Paul
LGBT people were told that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would be passed in April, but it looks like it’ll be canned until 2011. Meanwhile, people think it’s illegal to fire someone for being gay, but it’s not in 29 states.

Gary Liberson: Income Disparity and Despair
The economic fabric of the US is broken. What is clear from income and wealth data is that we are strangling the American dream. The…

Wall Street’s Reaction To Reform Legislation: ‘A Sigh Of Relief’
The financial reform legislation making its way through Congress has Wall Street executives privately relieved that the bill does not do more to fundamentally change…

Cenk Uygur: Ask Goldman Sachs to Give it Back!
Sometimes when you explain to people that some of the most complicated financial transactions in the country were just side bets, they don’t really believe…

Richard Greener: Rand Paul’s Transparent Hypocrisy: He’s a Doctor!
How can a man be a truly dedicated libertarian and still be a doctor? A doctor! Is there a profession more intrinsically entwined with government than medicine?

Will advances false claim that Blumenthal fabricated his association with Harvard swim team

George Will falsely claimed that Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal “told the Hartford Courant that he was the captain of a Harvard swim team when he was never on the swim team.” In fact, a former Harvard team captain has stated Blumenthal was on the team, and there is no evidence that Blumenthal personally provided the Courant with any information about his team status.

Will falsely claims Blumenthal misled Courant about being on Harvard’s swim team

Will: “How do you explain that he evidently told the Hartford Courant that he was the captain of the Harvard swim team when he wasn’t on the swim team?” On the May 23 edition of ABC’s This Week, George Will said if he “ran the Democratic party,” he “would be trying to get [Blumenthal] out” of the Senate race, adding: “How do you explain the fact that he evidently told the Hartford Courant that he was the captain of a Harvard swim team when he was never on the swim team?” Will added: “This is a serial problem.”

Courant profile does not state that Blumenthal said he was “captain”

Hartford Courant report does not attribute swim team claims to Blumenthal. In an October 3, 2004, profile of Blumenthal, the Courant reported (accessed via Nexis):

The Blumenthals paid for their children to attend Riverdale Country School, a private school in the Bronx, and later footed the bill for Ivy League schools, all the way through law and medical schools.

In Richard’s case, that meant four years at Harvard University, where he was captain of the swim team, editor-in-chief of the Harvard Crimson and a magna cum laude graduate, and Yale Law School.

Courant issued a correction to its story. On May 21, the Courant issued a correction to its 2004 profile that also did not indicate Blumenthal had supplied the Courant with false information:

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was never captain of the Harvard University swim team. A 1978 Courant story incorrectly reported that he was — an error repeated in subsequent Courant stories, including profiles in 1980 and 2004.

Courant: Former Harvard team captain confirms Blumenthal was on the team

Courant reported that a former Harvard team captain said Blumenthal “was on the team” and that Blumenthal said he had “no idea” where the captain claim came from. The Courant reported on May 20:

I called the school earlier today and was told the registrar’s office can verify attendance but could not verify an individuals participation on any athletic team. I was told to call the swim coach, who did not return my call.

But Waterbury native Peter Alter, who was the captain of the Harvard swim team in 1968, the year after Blumenthal graduated, told the Courant this morning that Blumenthal was on the team.

He was a freestyler and “was actually a pretty good one,” said Alter, now a lawyer in Glastonbury who still on occasion talks to Blumenthal.

The Yankee Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think-tank based in Hartford, unearthed a trove of photographs from Harvard that show Blumenthal was at least associated with the team.

A photo from the 1964 Harvard College yearbook, posted on the Yankee Institute’s Facebook page, shows Blumenthal participating in a Harvard swim meet his freshman year. “However, if Blumenthal was on the Harvard swim team, he is not included in the team’s group yearbook photo that year,” Yankee’s executive director Fergus Cullen noted in an email.

Blumenthal campaign manager Mindy Myers said it is her understanding that Blumenthal was a member of the freshman swim team at Harvard.

The captain of the swim team in 1967, Blumenthal’s senior year, was James Seubold, who is now a doctor in the Chicago area. He could not be reached for comment.

Alter, who was a diver and only the second diver in school history to be named captain, said it is a “big deal to be named captain” of any Harvard sports team.

Alter said he talked to Blumenthal a few years ago, when both of them were at a function. The two men joked about the inaccurate references to Blumenthal being the team captain. The attorney general told Alter “he had no idea where it came from.”

“He said he had tried to figure out where it had started and that he had never claimed to have been the captain,” Alter said.

NY Times first forwarded dubious claim that Blumenthal was “never on the team”

NY Times cited Hartford Courant description of Blumenthal as team captain when, “records at the college show that he was never on the team.” The New York Times reported on May 17:

On a less serious matter, another flattering but untrue description of Mr. Blumenthal’s history has appeared in profiles about him. In two largely favorable profiles, the Slate article and a magazine article in The Hartford Courant in 2004 with which he cooperated, Mr. Blumenthal is described prominently as having served as captain of the swim team at Harvard. Records at the college show that he was never on the team.

Mr. Blumenthal said he did not provide the information to reporters, was unsure how it got into circulation and was “astonished” when he saw it in print.

The Amazing Randy Paul & the New Republican-Tea Party

Perry Leads White in Texas
The latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll finds Rick Perry (R) leads Bill White (D) by nine points, 44% to 35%, in the 2010 race for Texas governor.

“The numbers in the races polled aren’t far from the generic party numbers in the poll. Asked which party’s candidate they’d support in their local races for Congress, 46 percent chose the Republican and 34 percent chose the Democrat; 15 percent were undecided and 5 percent chose ’someone else.’”

Quote of the Day
“I venture to say we’re going to lay the smackdown on him come November.”

–Co-Founder of World Wrestling Entertainment Linda McMahon (R), quoted by the Connecticut Mirror, on Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal (D).

Blumenthal Apologizes
“After nearly a week of criticism following revelations that he misrepresented his military record and five days after a press conference in which he expressed regret for his misstatements,” Richard Blumenthal (D) apologized in an email to the Hartford Courant.

Wrote Blumenthal: “At times when I have sought to honor veterans, I have not been as clear or precise as I should have been about my service in the Marine Corps Reserves. I have firmly and clearly expressed regret and taken responsibility for my words. I have made mistakes and I am sorry. I truly regret offending anyone.”

The Wall Street-Washington Axis of See No Evil Strikes Again: Ben Bernanke’s Illogical Argument About Why Taxpayers Should Continue to Subsidize Derivative Trading on the Street
The Wall Street-Washington Axis of See-No-Evil is close to axing Blanche Lincoln’s important proposal for ending the taxpayer subsidy of derivative trading. For years the big banks have relied on taxpayer-funded deposit insurance to backstop their lucrative derivative businesses. Obviously…

Peter Beinart Lashes His Lobby Critics (UPDATE) ++Dershowitz
The original piece is below. It is about Dershowitz. I’m updating with Peter Beinart’s excellent response to the Jeff Goldbergs of the world, who are going after Beinart the way they go after…anyone who dares criticize the Israeli government. Except…


Middle East – Alan Dershowitz – Warfare and Conflict – United States – Israel

Presented By:

Sen. Lamar Alexander Advocates A Government Takeover Of The Oil Spill Clean-Up
The oil spill that resulted from a British Petroleum rig exploding in the Gulf of Mexico is still continuing unabated, and many scientists are now saying that BP and the Obama administration are downplaying the amount of oil that is gushing into the water. The joint BP-federal command has been relying on an estimate from […]

The oil spill that resulted from a British Petroleum rig exploding in the Gulf of Mexico is still continuing unabated, and many scientists are now saying that BP and the Obama administration are downplaying the amount of oil that is gushing into the water. The joint BP-federal command has been relying on an estimate from NOAA scientists that the oil rate was increasing by 210,000 gallons (5000 barrels) a day, but independent scientists estimate that the flow rate is at least 850,000 gallons a day.

This week, a flurry of environmental organizations, members of Congress, and local officials in the states affected by the spill called for the federal government to take over the response effort from BP. “This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis, and we need to use every asset the U.S. has, including the Defense Department and all of its most sophisticated technology,” said Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA).

Today, on CBS’ Face the Nation, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) — who spends a lot of his time fearmongering about various government takeovers — seemed to advocate that the government simply let BP off the hook and take over the clean-up effort:

Alexander: There’s one thing [the administration] could do. Under the law, they could fire BP and take it over. But the truth is the federal government probably doesn’t have the capacity to do that. […]

Q: But would you favor taking over BP if that became necessary?

Alexander: Sure, that’s up to the President to decide. … Under the law the federal government can take it over if they choose. And I understand why they might not choose, but that option exists.

Watch it:

Last week, BP CEO Tony Hayward said that he expects the environmental impact of the disaster will be “very, very modest.” But as The Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson pointed out, “already, toxic sludge has started to ooze onto Louisiana’s fragile wetlands, and oil globs and tar balls have been found on barrier islands and beaches along the northeastern Gulf Coast. The federal government closed 19 percent of the Gulf to fishing on Monday when the slick doubled in size, caught by the Loop Current that is now dragging oil to the Florida Keys.”

Steele refuses to denounce Rand Paul: ?I can?t condemn a person?s view.?
This morning on ABC’s This Week, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had to address Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul’s recent comments that private business owners should be allowed to discriminate against people of color or anyone else they choose. After a firestorm of criticism, he backtracked and said he would “not support any […]

This morning on ABC’s This Week, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had to address Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul’s recent comments that private business owners should be allowed to discriminate against people of color or anyone else they choose. After a firestorm of criticism, he backtracked and said he would “not support any efforts to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” but the controversy has raised other questions about his views on the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal minimum wage, and the Fair Housing Act. Today, Steele said that Paul’s philosophy is “misplaced in these times” because it’s not “where the country is right now.” However, he defended that position because “it’s a philosophical position held by a lot of libertarians” and refused to condemn Paul:

STEELE: That’s a direct quote, and it’s a philosophical position held by a lot of libertarians, which Rand Paul is. They have a very, very strong view about the limitations of government intrusion into the private sector. That is a philosophical perspective. We have had a lot of members go to the United States Senate with a lot of different philosophies, but when they get to the body, how they work to move the country forward matters. […]

TAPPER: But do you condemn that view?

STEELE: I can’t condemn a person’s view. That’s like, you know, you believe something and I’m going to say, well, you know, I’m going to condemn your view of it. It’s the people of Kentucky will judge whether or not that’s a view that they would like to send–

TAPPER: Are you comfortable with that?

STEELE: I am not comfortable with a lot of things, but it doesn’t matter what I’m comfortable with and not comfortable with. I don’t vote in that election. The people of Kentucky will. As a national chairman, I’m here to say that our party will move forward in fighting for the civil rights and liberties of the American people, especially minorities in this country, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that everyone who’s going to come to the United States Congress or go to state capitals with a Republican label are in that fight with us.

TAPPER: It sounds like you’re not comfortable with it.

STEELE: I just said I wasn’t comfortable.

Watch it:

Transcript:

KAINE: I was a civil rights lawyer for 17 years. Rand Paul wrote a letter about the Fair Housing Act to a local newspaper, saying a free society should tolerate private discrimination, even if it means that hate-filled groups exclude people based on the color of their skin.

TAPPER: That’s pretty much a direct quote.

STEELE: That’s a direct quote, and it’s a philosophical position held by a lot of libertarians, which Rand Paul is. They have a very, very strong view about the limitations of government intrusion into the private sector. That is a philosophical perspective. We have had a lot of members go to the United States Senate with a lot of different philosophies, but when they get to the body, how they work to move the country forward matters, and right now, the federal government is not moving forward on BP and cleaning up that mess; the federal government is not moving forward on the economy and creating jobs. There are a lot of — there are a lot of philosophies, a lot of talk on this hill about folks to get stuff done. What the American people are looking for is what are the concrete steps that this administration has taken to clean up the mess in the Gulf before it gets worse, and to create the jobs that are necessary for people to go back to building the economy the way that everybody wants it to be.

TAPPER: Fair enough, but just one more — one more beat on Rand Paul, and that is do you condemn that point of view? I mean, where would African-Americans be if the federal government hadn’t come in and said, hotels, you have to–

STEELE: Exactly. That’s very much a part of the debate back in the ’60s, as it is going forward. But the reality of it is, our party has stood four-square behind, you know–

TAPPER: But do you condemn that view?

STEELE: I can’t condemn a person’s view. That’s like, you know, you believe something and I’m going to say, well, you know, I’m going to condemn your view of it. It’s the people of Kentucky will judge whether or not that’s a view that they would like to send–

TAPPER: Are you comfortable with that?

STEELE: I am not comfortable with a lot of things, but it doesn’t matter what I’m comfortable with and not comfortable with. I don’t vote in that election. The people of Kentucky will. As a national chairman, I’m here to say that our party will move forward in fighting for the civil rights and liberties of the American people, especially minorities in this country, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that everyone who’s going to come to the United States Congress or go to state capitals with a Republican label are in that fight with us.

TAPPER: It sounds like you’re not comfortable with it.

STEELE: I just said I wasn’t comfortable.

Redistricting Away Our Consent
Jeremy Lott, RealClearPolitics
America was founded on the bedrock notion of the consent of the governed. In the past, that consent was often and easily withdrawn by the governed. Pollster Scott Rasmussen points out in his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, that high incumbency reelection rates are a recent and troubling change in our politics. The House of Representatives used to enjoy frequent and massive turnovers. In the election of 1948, that body saw a 75-seat swing in favor of the Democrats, ushering out the so-called “do nothing” Republican Congress.What has changed since then? Gerrymandering, on a…

Mexico City and DC Gang Up On Phoenix
Debra Saunders, SF Chronicle
Mexican President Felipe Calderon got the tough new Arizona immigration law wrong when he told Congress on Thursday, “It is a law that not only ignores a reality — but also introduces a terrible idea of racial profiling as the basis for law enforcement.”To the contrary, Arizona Senate Bill 1070, which makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally, expressly prohibits police actions based on “race, color or national origin.”

Our New Culture War: Freedom vs. Govt
Arthur Brooks, Washington Post
 America faces a new culture war.This is not the culture war of the 1990s. It is not a fight over guns, gays or abortion. Those old battles have been eclipsed by a new struggle between two competing visions of the country's future. In one, America will continue to be an exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise — limited government, a reliance on entrepreneurship and rewards determined by market forces. In the other, America will move toward European-style statism grounded in expanding bureaucracies, a managed economy and large-scale income…

The Mexico Model

Is Aging a Disease?
Reuters: Is aging a disease? It’s clear that the simple fact of growing older — chronological aging — is relentless and unstoppable. But experts studying the science of aging say it’s time for a fresh look at the biological process — one which recognizes it as a condition that can be manipulated, treated and delayed.

Sunday Talking Heads: May 23, 2010
Primary Election Returns, Oil Spill.

Hurricane Creekkeeper, along with SouthWings pilot Tom Hutchings and his daughter Brinkley, fly out to the source of the BP slick to give us a bird’s eye view of the disaster.  The sadness in his voice is heartbreaking, “We have to do something.  We need every scientific mind in the country working on this, and not just those at BP who are trying to protect the resource.”  (YouTube link, h/t to TalkingStick for the video.)

There’s a lot of talk scheduled about the primary elections, a little about the oil spill, and some pretty stale roundtables.

Washington Journal: 7:45am – Alex Isenstadt, Politico.  8:30am – Donald Kerwin, Migration Policy Institute.  9:15am – Victor Cha, Center for Strategic & International Studies, Former Director for Asian Affairs National Security Council 2004-07.

ABC’s This Week: Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tim Kaine, and the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele. Roundtable. Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts, Donna Brazile, George Will.

CBS’ Face The Nation: Robert Gibbs White House Press Secretary.  Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Chairman, Republican Conference, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) Democratic Senate Candidate.

Chris Matthews: Norah O’Donnell, Howard Fineman, Jonathan Alter, Kathleen Parker.  Topics: How Can Barack Obama Run Against Washington This Year?  Rand Paul’s Civil Rights Problem.

CNN’s State of the Union: Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN).  BP’s Managing Director, Robert Dudley, then Admiral Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard.

Fareed Zakaria – GPS: “[O]ne man’s terrifying experience in Russia — that raises much bigger questions about that country and where it is headed.  Plus, the President of Georgia on dealing with Russia two years after the Georgian war.  And finally, two experts discuss Putin’s Russia.”

Fox News Sunday: Rand Paul Sarah Palin.  Then, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tim Kaine, and the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele.  Fox News AllStars: Brit Hume, Mara Liasson, Bill Kristol, Kirsten Powers.  Power Player of the Week: Ginni Thomas, Founder of Liberty Central /Wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

NBC’s Meet The Press: Rand Paul ? replacement.  Plus, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA).  Then, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) vs. the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Roundtable: Tom Friedman, Paul Gigot, Andrea Mitchell, Bob Woodward.

Newsmakers: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) explained the source of anti-incumbent sentiment among voters and how it may affect his Party’s majority prospects in the November elections.

Q & A: Terence Samuel, author of the new book “The Upper House: A Journey Behind the Closed Doors of the U.S. Senate.” It looks at the institution of the Senate and some of its members. Mr. Samuel was chief congressional correspondent for U.S. News & World Report from 2000 to 2005.

Religion & Ethics: SCOTUS Juvenile Sentencing Decision.  AZ Immigration Law.  Gossip.  Drones and the Ethics of War.

60 Minutes: Are They Safe? – Chemicals called phthalates found in soft plastic products we use everyday are so ubiquitous, that traces of them can be found in everybody. The government has banned some of them in children’s toys for fear they may be harmful, but are they?  The SEED School – There’s a unique urban public boarding school that’s giving kids from an inner-city neighborhood a shot at college they never had before.  Marty’s Big Idea – Hear the story of the invention of the cell phone from the man whose team came up with it at Motorola. The inventor, Martin Cooper, is still at it, improving the gadget he came up with 37 years ago.

To The Contrary: Topics: 1- Sarah Palin and Frontier Feminism; 2- Why Latina entrepreneurship is essential to Hispanic wealth and community building.  Panelists: Former EEOC Chair Cari Dominguez; Progressive Commentator Patricia Sosa; Independent Women’s Forum’s Nicole Kurokawa; the Center for American Progress’ Heather Boushey; Small Business Owner Leticia Velez-Hudson.

Univison’s Al Punto: Dan Restrepo, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council; Juan Hernandez, Expert on U.S.- Mexico Relations and Former Cabinet Member During the Presidency of Vicente Fox; Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC; Barabara Palacios, Former Miss Universe, Entrepreneur and Writer.

Virtually Speaking: Avedon Carol and Jay Ackroyd.  Big news this week is, yet again, what was supposed to be evidence for a repeat of a 1994 GOP sweep of the Hill turned out not to be. Avedon and I will mock the excuses,then discuss reasonably seriously the role of incumbency in this mini election cycle. Then we will discuss the fascinating question of the new petroleum enriched Gulf ecosystem.

C-SPAN’s Book TV.

FDL Book Salon: An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying Bin Laden’s Jihad and Restoring America’s Honor.  “Career intelligence officer Malcolm Nance proposes a quantum shift in how to eliminate al-Qaeda in less than twenty-four months, while recreating America’s reputation as a force for good around the world.”  Come chat with author Malcolm Nance, 5pm ET.

FDL Movie Night Monday: Patent Absurdity: How Software Patents Broke The System.  “Patent Absurdity explores the case of software patents and the history of judicial activism that led to their rise, and the harm being done to software developers and the wider economy.”  Watch the movie online. Join Luca Lucarini, Director, Cinematographer, Editor; Peter Brown, Producer; and host Lisa Derrick, 8pm ET.

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Honduran Judges Fight Back
Remember that coup in Honduras last year? Well, a group of judges who were fired after making legal decisions against the widely-accepted-as-illegal coup have launched a hunger strike against their dismissal. The judges say their dismissal was a political maneuver, claiming the high court in Honduras is defending the interests of the coup government and not justice or national interest. —JCL Al Jazeera English: A group of Honduran judges and lawyers have launched a protest after being fired by the supreme court. The men say their dismissal has nothing to do with their performance and everything to do with politics. Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reports from Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Read more

Remember that coup in Honduras last year? Well, a group of judges who were fired after making legal decisions against the widely-accepted-as-illegal coup have launched a hunger strike against their dismissal.

The judges say their dismissal was a political maneuver, claiming the high court in Honduras is defending the interests of the coup government and not justice or national interest. —JCL

Al Jazeera English:

A group of Honduran judges and lawyers have launched a protest after being fired by the supreme court.

The men say their dismissal has nothing to do with their performance and everything to do with politics.

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reports from Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital.

Read more

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