Jan 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Weekend Requests?
What’s on your mind at the end of President Obama’s first workweek?
62 Responses to “Weekend Requests?”
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January 23rd, 2009 at 5:50 pm
If the stimulus bill is set for February, and financial regulatory reform is set for April, what’s Obama’s big project for March? (Aside from watching Oregon State in the CBI, I guess.)
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Matt, a couple of years ago you posted a photo of your girlfriend; I believe she was also a political affairs blogger. You have not mentioned her in quite some time. Are you two still together, and if so, are you planning to tie the knot in the near future? Best wishes, RG
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:59 pm
The right-wing attempts to set up Obama to be blamed for any terrorist attacks.
It’s long past time we start countering that with “Bush let Osama bin Laden get away. He stopped looking for him 6 months after 9/11 so he could go after nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Torturing goatherders in Guantanamo didn’t keep us safe; the Bush Administration claims 61 of the people they released from there are now terrorists. Face it, he was as incompetent here as he was when it came to preparing for natural disasters. Unlike Katrina, he got lucky and there wasn’t another attack. Don’t pretend luck was competence. He stopped caring about bin Laden 6 months after 9/11. That’s all you really need to know about Bush and terrorism.”
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I’d like another chart comparing the Obama stimulus plan with the ridiculous House GOP plan, in terms of both bang for the buck and shovel-readiness.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Also, what did you think of the two stimulus ideas in the NYT today?
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Did I miss all the Executive Orders about science or did they just not happen as soon as I’d hoped they would?
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Several questions:
1) Why should the government not just set up National Banks to fund real businesses — REPLACE rather than repair bankrupt financial firms — and let some of the bankrupt banks die? I mentioned this 4 months ago — it seems to me that the government needs to ensure that our tax dollars are INVESTED in profitable, socially beneficial business activity rather than used to pay off gambling debts on Wall Street. I think this would more greatly isolate the real economy from the contagion of some firms in the financial services sector.
I see this as different from Nationalization — since nationalization would involve the government ASSUMING the debt/obligations of bankrupt banks. I see no reason why the taxpayer should do that.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Well, all I’ve been hearing today is how Obama is bending over backward to listen to and be inclusive with the wingnuts on the economic recovery plan. And ALL I here from wingnuts is the echo of idiots — taxcuts, TAXCUTS, Taxcuts TAXCUTS. At some point, Obama is going to have to acknowledge the loyal opposition is quite thoroughly insane. Same ideas expecting different results kind of Insane. The democrats, like always, are quite capable of loyally opposing themselves and should relegate the GOP to King of Hearts status, until further notice.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
1) I would also strongly support Bob’s request in post 6 above for a more objective comparison of the merits of the Stimulus plan vice the Republican tax cuts -for the common citizen. See my earlier questions re this matter in posts 8-12 here:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/01/stimulus_speed_racers.php#comment-1045748
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I have been mulling this over since your post about green space in cities. It strikes me that, at least in my own experience, not all urban areas are the same. Downtown Chicago and parts of lower Manhattan have gorgeous, interesting buildings, and I don’t find them oppressive or ugly, even though there aren’t that many trees.
Meanwhile a lot of the new towers I see going up are hideous, and midtown Manhattan makes me hate the city/myself/everyone. Which leads me to ask: how important is aesthetics in urban policy? Should we be willing to subject new development to aesthetic review, even though that might threaten to make dense development more expensive? Is there a good way to go about doing this so that the review boards don’t get taken over by people with an agenda (probably an anti-density one)? Is it worth paying extra for public buildings so that people find them attractive, or are other needs simply more urgent?
(All of this is based on the premise that there is a fairly serious externality associated with buildings, because their owners do not bear the entire cost or enjoy the entire benefit of their appearance)
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Is he really the president or should we pay attention to Drudge?
How’s that oath go again??
Nah.. just kidding. I think the WH press corps has it right–the real issue is what’s he up to during the Super Bowl?
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Translation:
Damn, I don’t have George W. Bush to kick around anymore, and it’s boring to write about whether what Obama did today is even more or just slightly less awesome than what he did yesterday. And I’ve got four more years of this to plod through …
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Oh noes, we can still kick around GWB and his manshooter sidekick DC. And with any luck, we’ll get to see them handcuffed and waddling past the teevee cameras. Now that would be extra awesome.
And four more years of awesome could only be criticized by a wingnuts that nobody listens to anymore.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Is he going to take control of the ongoing War on Terror and War on Drugs, or let the Pentagon and DEA run on auto-pilot?
We bombed some people in Pakistan, which might or might not have been a good thing, and we raided some people in California, which almost certainly was not, at the end of his first week.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Should President Obama and Congressional Democrats move legislation to “permanently” overturn the Mexico City Policy (aka Global Gag Rule)? Why handle this with an executive order and have the issue bandied about from administration to administration? Thanks.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Hey, MattY, how’d you like to try your hand at some real reporting?
All you have to do is call the number listed here and read one of those questions to their spokeswoman and then write down her response. It’s 2pm there now, so you’ve got at least a couple hours.
No, really, just pick up the phone, ask on of those questions, and let us know what she says.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Hillary Swank: Hot or not?
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Now that Obama is President, we have reality to deal with. If he hasn’t done so already, he’s bound to make a policy decision that makes us hopping mad. So let’s not get cynical once the euphoria wears off.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Re “Are you two still together, and if so, are you planning to tie the knot in the near future? Best wishes, RG”
————
Is that Sara’s MOM??
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Do U.S. treaty obligations to prosecute torture and war crimes preclude a “truth commission” approach to abuses in the Bush years, trading immunity for testimony? (I also posted this question to Ezra Klein, though I don’t know if he will answer it.)
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Gaddhafi’s op-ed in the New York Times on Isratine. Also, the idea of Gaddhafi having an op-ed in the Times on Isratine.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:55 pm
The recent casting of three (and probably four) white actors for the live-action adaptation of the cartoon “Avatar: The Last Airbender” has stirred some controversy. This blog post sums the mess up nicely.
So, of course, as there always is, there’s a letter-writing campaign. Now the whole thing fascinates (and angers) me, but there’s a blog/politics angle to it too: There still seems to be a lot of value in real words on paper, versus email or (the bottom of the scale) online petitions. Why do you think paper persists? Do you think this landscape is changing, or is it pretty much carved in stone?
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:58 pm
How can we build more political support for addressing climate change?
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I’m with Al, in a sense, you need an NBA post every 2 or 3 days to keep your hardcore audience interested. I mean, I love SUPERTRAINS and all, but I’d also like to read something that isn’t on other blogs.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Is not this whole Russell Tice business a major story? The man is only going on the Olbermann show talking about the concerted effort made by the NSA to spy on journalists. I seriously doubt that Obama is going to do anything about this as he voted to give the telecoms immunity. Is anyone going to ask him? Or is this just standard operating procedure now, accepted, nothing to see here, move along, what are you going to do – that kind of thing. Well I for one think this is terrifying.
They’re spying on you Matt.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I’ve got one!:
With a lot of the encouraging news over the last couple days some have responded, essentially, “Yes, these are great, but there’s so much to be done, let’s not become too happy yet.” And they’re right, but my question to you is: what can you think of that, if not done in the next week or two, could spell significant trouble?
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
(What are you eating this weekend Linus?)
Thanks for asking. Was going to make butternut squash ravioli but the ravioli mold did not arrive on time. Will be making fried chicken, szechwan style and szechwan style prawns with dried chillies + pork and shrimp wontons all from charmaine solomon’s “the complete asian cookbook”. Had to search high and low for the correct orange beef recipe (lost among multiple re-installations of Vista in order to get sp1 on); found it here.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:26 pm
What does everyone think about Chomsky’s take on Obama’s Gaza position?
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 pm
It was common in the Bush years for the Senate Dems to get to pass a lot of bipartisan happy horseshit in Senate bills only to see the final bills stripped of any more moderate provisions by the House GOP during reconciliation.
What effect do you think the reconciliation process will have on bills in Congress? Do you think the Senate will pass more conservative bills on just about ever subject, only to see the bills move left in the reconciliation process with the House? A lot has been said about the cloture hurdle in the Senate but isn’t the level of compromise that Speaker Pelosi will accept in reconciliation another boundary in the process?
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:25 pm
#21 – No it’s not Sara’s Mom. If Josh and Kos can post pix of their kids, and Kevin can post pix of his cats, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for Mr. Influential to post a photo now and then of his girlfriend.
More to the point, if for some reason they’re not still together, I was going to ask Matt if I could call her up. She was hot. Just sayin’.
January 24th, 2009 at 12:57 am
In light of the financial catastrophe, I wonder what your thoughts are on urban chicken farming. Would it be possible to continue living in cities if there is no food in the grocery stores? I sure hope it doesn’t come to that, but I’m worried.
January 24th, 2009 at 1:16 am
It is clear that Obama is all interested in throwing ‘red meat’ all these days to Liberals at the cost of serious Economic policy making. Look for the site http://www.readthestimulus.org/ and their spread sheet in particular. Will you ever justify many of those proposed spending items when you are not taking alcohol? Hardly likely. This means stimulus is not going to bring what we expect at this point; at least when the stimulus is nothing but aggregation of ‘pork barrel’ politics. It does not matter how many times Obama or Pelosi keep on harping that Dems won the election. The question is what do they do of this victory. So far it does not seem like stimulus package is any smarter.
Red meat – why else Geithner talk about Yuan that it is manipulated? If you can, try to get handle on the commentary by Mark Chandler where he explains that Yuan has actually appreciated with most of the currencies except Yen. With Yen it is all about ‘carry trade’. Our politicians hardly would bother to know about ‘carry trade’. Beyond that are our politicians aware that if indeed Yuan is let free on capital account, it will actually go down against Dollar as Chinese will flock to Dollar and other currencies? Meaning in a sense if Chinese Government stops ‘manipulating Yuan’; it will actually harm USA. Where are our dimwitted Politicians? Obama is party to this. Why?
Point is Obama Administration is not getting a handle on the economic policy business. Why Banks are still let go down when ‘aggregator / bad bank’ concept is talked all around? Why there is no ‘imagination / creativity’ in the stimulus package?
We are doomed and you should ask why Obama is not doing enough to stop it.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Urban chicken farming won’t work, because they don’t wear overalls, they can’t pick up a rake, and just try planting corn on an onramp.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:20 am
Should Geithner’s unethical tax behavior be a bigger issue? After all, the IRS is part of the Treasury Department. Is he really the only qualified left of center person?
January 24th, 2009 at 2:37 am
I got in a fight with a libertarian tonight. Can we rant about that Matthew?
January 24th, 2009 at 2:46 am
You talk about the roads vs. transit balance in terms of NEW roads and NEW transit…but considering all the talk of crumbling infrastructure, isn’t a certain amount of this mere repair of what is there? Any guestimation as to what percentage of the funding is for improving existing capacity as opposed to increasing capacity? Because it seems to me that what exists should be well maintained before we jump into building more, even though what exists is transit light. Then after that new transit should be ahead of new roads.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:06 am
After eight years of the Bush era Department of Transportations, there are of course enormous capital backlogs in bus transit, rail transit, and rail transport areas.
The following is from the Appropriations Committee Report on the Stimulus Bill:
In addition to new capital works and operating subsidies … isn’t there are substantial argument to be made for addressing the capital works backlog in bus transit, rail transit, and regional rail transport?
January 24th, 2009 at 10:11 am
I’m concerned about the Red Sox catching situation unless Boston makes a trade for Teagarden, Saltalamacchia, or Montero.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Assume for a second that the GOP is right and that tax cuts create 2x the economic impact that infastructure spending does.
My question:
Would you rather create 5,000,000 new jobs by cutting Cap Gains to 0 and create a lot of demand for services for rich people? I.E. rich people have more $$ so they hire people to pamper them. You create no tangible assets that continue beyond the point at which the service is provided to the rich person. You would create lots of hairdressers, masseuses, valets, butlers, maids, etc.
OR
Would you rather create 2,500,000 new jobs through infrastructure spending and create a lot of infrastructure that people can use for years to come. You would create a lot of tangible assets that can be used for years after they are built I.E. roads, bridges, rail, schools, sewage lines, power grid, etc. You would create a lot of carpenters, pipe fitters, electricians, etc.
So which would you choose – even under the assumption that the GOP economic model is correct (which it probably is not!)
January 24th, 2009 at 10:48 am
RE David Gottfried’s question:
“Would it be possible to continue living in cities if there is no food in the grocery stores?”
————-
Obviously, no. It takes about 5 acres to sustain a family of 3 –preferably 10. Big problem with self-sufficient gardening is fertilizer. Good book on subject is “Gardening When it Counts” by Steve Solomon.
On the other hand, isolated cabin in countryside becomes what homicide detectives call “the psychopath’s secondary crime scene.” Best to live in tight community (small rural town) which can defend itself –a la hilltop villages of medieval Italy.
See http://www.survivalblog.com
January 24th, 2009 at 10:50 am
In another thread someone wrote:
“Is McArdle still blogging after being beheaded by Glenzilla yesterday?”
My thoughts are on Glenn Greenwald and likeminded people who were overly critical of Obama throughout the election.
At his site he writes: “This is a very good and important step — not only because of its substance, but also because it was something Obama did almost immediately, even before his first full day in office:
In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration. . . .”
Obamabots 1 Greenwald 0
No doubt he would counter that you can never be too critical of those in power, but those keeping score and those with a memory, will think next time perhaps Greenwald is crying wolf again.
I mean he led us to believe that Obama was another triangulator of the Bill Clinton/Dick Morris mold.
————-
@23 Gaddhafi’s op-ed in the New York Times on Isratine. Also, the idea of Gaddhafi having an op-ed in the Times on Isratine.
Yeah, weird. It should be remembered that regime change in Iraq caused Gaddhafi to change his tune.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Re Gottfried’s question, a good resource is this 2005 account by a man (FerFAL) who lived through Argentina’s economic collapse:
http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=044387;p=1
FerFAL currently has a blog at http://ferfal.blogspot.com/
Survivalist think that if things really turn to shit, you want to be 1 gas tank’s drive away from a major city. This pretty much rules out areas east of the Mississippi River.
An alternative is to be near the coast and evacuate to the south via boat — although this is highly dangerous if you don’t know much about ocean sailing.
January 24th, 2009 at 11:11 am
muammar qaddafi, of all people, has a fascinating op-ed in the new york times calling for a one-state solution to the israeli/palestinian conflict.
would you reply?
furthermore, is this a model that could be extended to india/pakistan?
January 24th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Sure, over many Indians’ and Pakistanis’ dead bodies. Let’s try not to get a God complex here.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Obama’s been talking about belt tightening after this spending spree is all done.
How about the mortgage interest tax deduction? I think it costs almost $100 billion for 2008. (Part of this could go to incentivizing communities to create policies for more affordable housing, as Glaeser has suggested, and the rest to obligations.)
January 26th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Just curious on who you would recommend to the NY Times to replace Bill Kristol whose last column was today. Bill at the end of the day was a hack, I think Brooks does try to put ideas out there, whether you agree or not. I believe, particularly with a Democratic President it is actually more, not less, important to have constructive conservative criticism especially comming from the grey lady.
IMHO I think the Times could do much worse than selecting your former Atlantic colleague Mr. Douthat
January 26th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
WTF was that editorial by Qaddafi in the NYTimes this weekend? Isristine? Why would they publish something like that? Is the One State Solution still a possibility in any rational actor’s minds?
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