Republicans have not been at all bipartisan on tax cuts (or anything else, for that matter), but, writes Ezra Klein, Democrats come in for their share of blame, too:
… They’ve known about the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for, well, 10 years. An extension, reform or expiration could’ve been pushed long ago. The White House, too, has kept asking for meetings and processes rather than simply using its leverage — the veto pen — to set a clear line in the sand and let Republicans decide how to respond. Despite controlling all branches of government and having the more popular position on the tax cuts, the Democrats have acted like a minority party in disarray.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) is not good at chess:
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) said that while he is “deeply sympathetic” to the plight of the unemployed, “we’ve got to make the cuts necessary to offset those costs.” During the interview, Pence claimed that Republicans are “anxious to support” struggling Americans, “particularly in the holiday season.” However, asked whether he would accept a compromise that paid for unemployment benefits by allowing tax cuts to expire only on income over $1 million, Pence insisted that the jobless are better off swallowing tax cuts for the very rich than receiving immediate relief.
Pressed further on his priorities by Time‘s Mark Halperin, Pence awkwardly joked that he’s “not good at chess,” before falling back on his talking points. “I think the minimum that we have to do right now for Americans that are struggling in unemployment in this economy is make sure that no American sees a tax increase,” he said.
Sarah Palin is no Ronald Reagan, but she might be Dan Quayle.
Scott Horton has a piece in Harper’s about the Spanish government’s interest in what the diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks reveal about U.S. attitudes toward ongoing criminal investigations pending in Spain’s national security court:
… Attention has focused on three separate matters, each pending in the Spanish national security court, the Audiencia Nacional: the investigation into the 2003 death of a Spanish cameraman, José Cuoso, as a result of the mistaken shelling of Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel by a U.S. tank; an investigation into the torture of Spanish subjects held at Guantánamo; and a probe into the use of Spanish bases and airfields for extraordinary renditions flights, including the one which took Khaled El-Masri to Baghdad and then on to Afghanistan in 2003.
These cables reveal a large-scale, closely coordinated effort by the State Department to obstruct these criminal investigations. …
David Corn reports that, when it came to stopping the above-mentioned criminal investigations, bipartisanship between Republicans and the Obama administration bloomed like roses in June.
Pres. Obama has announced that offshore oil drilling will, for now, not be allowed in areas where new lease sales had been planned, but not yet finalized:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Wednesday afternoon that the Obama administration will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next five-year drilling plan, reversing two key policy changes President Obama announced in late March.
“We are adjusting our strategy in areas where there are no active leases,” Salazar told reporters in a phone call, adding that the administration has decided “not expand to new areas at this time” and instead “focus and expand our critical resources on areas that are currently active” when it comes to oil and gas drilling.
A federal district court judge in Oklahoma City has issued an injunction to block Oklahoma from enforcing a constitutional amendment that forbids courts in that state to use Islamic sharia law:
The amendment would forbid state judges from considering Islamic or international law in their decisions. Known as State Question 755, the measure passed with 70 percent of the vote during the Republican landslide on Nov. 2, and has generated bitter debate.
Muslims claim the state is discriminating against their religion, while supporters — many of them Christian conservatives — say the amendment is needed to thwart what they maintain is an effort by radical Muslims to impose Shariah law in the United States.
Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange of Federal District Court in Oklahoma City, however, said in her decision to grant a preliminary injunction on Monday that the measure did not appear to pass constitutional muster.
It conveys a message, she said, that the state favors one religion or particular belief over others. The federal courts have long held that such a message violates the First Amendment’s clause prohibiting the establishment of a state religion, she said.
“While defendants contend that the amendment is merely a choice-of-law provision that bans state courts from applying the law of other nations or cultures — regardless of what faith they may be based on, if any — the actual language of the amendment reasonably, and perhaps more reasonably, may be viewed as specifically singling out Shariah law, conveying a message of disapproval of plaintiff’s faith,” the judge wrote.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) is refusing to participate in a town holiday parade (in Tulsa) because the parade organizers changed the name of the parade from “Christmas Parade of Lights” to “Holiday Parade of Lights.”
More compassionate conservatism, and just in time for CHRISTmas!
House Republicans have temporarily blocked legislation to feed school meals to thousands more hungry children. Republicans used a procedural maneuver Wednesday to try to amend the $4.5 billion bill, which would give more needy children the opportunity to eat free lunches at school and make those lunches healthier. First lady Michelle Obama has lobbied for the bill as part of her “Let’s Move” campaign to combat childhood obesity.House Democrats said the GOP amendment, which would have required background checks for child care workers, was an effort to kill the bill and delayed a final vote on the legislation rather than vote on the amendment.
[…]
Republicans say the nutrition bill is too costly and an example of government overreach.“It’s not about making our children healthy and active,” said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee. “We all want to see our children healthy and active. This is about spending and the role of government and the size of government — a debate about whether we’re listening to our constituents or not.”
Supporters and fans of the Confederacy are planning to hold a “secession ball” in the port of Charleston, where slave auctions were held in the Good Old Days. It will be … “a joyous night of music, dancing, food and drink,” [and] “will be replicated on a smaller scale in other cities. A parade is being planned in Montgomery, Ala., along with a mock swearing-in of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy.”
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