La Grande Mosquée de Paris

We visited today the Grande Mosquée de Paris, the Great Mosque of Paris - the largest Islamic mosque in France. Today was Heritage Day (or perhaps weekend) in France, where you get to visit official sites of the French heritage for free. We went to the mosque. It was nice, though honestly I've seen more impressive mosques in Morocco. But what really struck me was that I remembered a story about how the Muslims in France during WWII helped hundreds of Jews, mostly children, escape the Nazis. I just Googled the story and found the details. It was this Mosque.

The Imam of the mosque, Si Kaddour Benghabrit, basically helped Jews get false papers (certificates of Muslim identity, birth certificates, marriage certificates) and actually hid them in the Mosque, and in homes in the area, and if need be, he'd help them escape down the river Seine, hidding in cargo ships. A really amazing story.





Here are a few photos of the Mosque, and afterwards we went and had mint tea in the Mosque's tea room.





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Maybe an individual mandate is a tax cut

Stephanopoulos tried to argue today that by requiring all Americans to get health insurance, President Obama was imposing a tax increase on those Americans who don't have insurance - because he's requiring them to pay money for something (an odd argument, since by that definition, shopping for food, or buying a CD, is a tax increase). But in any case, if one wants to argue that making someone pay a monthly fee for insurance is a tax increase, then lowering the monthly premiums for the rest of us - which supposedly Obama's plan is going to do - would be a tax cut for the rest of us. And considering more of us are insured than uninsured, that would mean most of the country would be getting a pretty large tax cut. So there. Read the rest of this post...

The Return of McCarthyism

Our country is unraveling. The Republicans are stoking it. The Democrats are watching it happen, and even to some degree enabling it by not standing up and doing anything about it. This, I fear, is how great democracies perish.

The video is 9 minutes long. Once you get past the first 20 seconds, it's a must watch.

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Dodd proposing single regulator to watch over Wall Street

A very big gamble from the Senator who is in for a tough reelection battle. Obama initially favored a similar plan but backed off due to a fear of Wall Street lobbyists slowing the process and then breaking it apart. It's hard to see how much slower Washington could be but surely it's possible. Not a bad plan and it shows that Dodd is ready to fight back against his tarnished reputation of coziness with the banking industry. Will it be enough for voters and will he win the battle in Congress? It all depends how easily other members of Congress will stand up to Wall Street. Wall Street has spread its cash around Congress so this is going to be very difficult.

The senior Senate Democrat shepherding legislation to overhaul the nation’s financial system is planning to propose the merger of four bank agencies into one super-regulator, an idea that is significantly different from what President Obama envisions.

The legislation being prepared by Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, who heads the Senate Banking Committee, would also differ from the Obama plan by diminishing the role of the Federal Reserve as a systemwide overseer.

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Frank Rich: Even Glenn Beck Is Right Twice a Day

Another excellent piece from Frank Rich. This time about Glenn Beck's masses. And about how the discord Beck is sowing, and tapping into, is quite dangerous, and shouldn't be simply written off as "there go the crazies."

They are crazies, of course. Or perhaps crazed. (Americans, for all of our strengths, have an incredible capacity to be bamboozled. All humans do, but we do it so remarkably well.) But they're crazies who are making an impact, mostly because politicians are letting them. The GOP is desperate for a leader, and Beck gave it to them - not in himself, but rather in the villagers-with-pitchforks he helped to unleash. Republicans, unfortunately, see the Teabaggers as the only game in town. So rather than rein in the monster in their midst, they, just as they did with the religious right before them, aid and abet it until one day it gets a bit too big and loud and powerful for comfort.

Republicans and Democrats are united in their lack of will or desire to do anything about the incivility that is being unleashed. And thus it grows, and will continue to until something gives. Read the rest of this post...

Obama to NY Governor Paterson: Don't run next year.

Apparently, Obama is willing to involve himself in state-level Democratic politics. In New York, the president sent the word to the incumbent Governor, David Paterson, that Paterson shouldn't run in 2010. The NY Times calls this move "an extraordinary intervention" and it is:

President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation.

The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said.

“Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official said Saturday evening. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor? Yes.”

That had to sting, but Paterson has been a disaster.

New York Attorney Andrew Cuomo has been weighing a challenge to Paterson. He'd be the beneficiary if Paterson heeds Obama's advice. Read the rest of this post...

GOP accuses Obama of appeasement to Russia, offering opponent something for nothing

Oh the irony. The GOP has again proven a point that Joe and I have written about a lot over the past several years. If you unilaterally cave to Republicans - on the stimulus, on health care reform, etc. - they will not turn around and be your friend. They won't even respond to the gesture with civility. Instead, they'll take what you gave - thank you very much - then accuse you of being a serial caver, of being weak, or now, of appeasement (evoking, conveniently, Hitler, again).

The danger for President Obama is not just that on each of these individual issues he is getting rolled by the Republicans by caving and getting nothing in return, but now, much more seriously, there is a question in the air as to whether our President is afraid. Whether he's weak. Whether he avoids a fight at all costs. And now, the Republicans are piling on, forcing Obama's Secretary of Defense to say publicly that we're not conceding, not appeasing.

It would be easier to defend the President's actions vis-a-vis Russia, and the GOP's attacks would have less of a chance of working, if we did not have a history of President Obama constantly caving to - there's that word again - appease his adversaries.

Every move you make in politics has repercussions far beyond the situation at hand. Every time the Democrats cave to the Republicans, they feed a larger narrative that we have been dogged by for three decades, at least. That Democrats are weak. That we don't fight back. That we don't know how to fight back. That we don't defend ourselves. And therefore, we certainly won't defend you and your family.

At some point the cycle of political impotence needs to be broken. Constantly breaking promises, constantly worrying about how much the other guy likes you, and constantly running from a fight sends the wrong message at home and abroad. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Obama is on all the talk shows today -- except FOX. Yes, the president is doing ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Univision -- but not FOX. (To be clear, the interviews with everyone, but not FOX, were taped on Friday.) Yet, FOX, the network of leading birther/racist Glenn Beck, doesn't like it.

We're going to hear the president answer questions about health insurance reform, of course, but also Afghanistan and the right wing craziness including the issue of race. But not on FOX.

The full slate up is after the break.

Here's the full lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — President Barack Obama.
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CBS' "Face the Nation" — Obama.
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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Obama; House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
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CNN's "State of the Union" — Obama; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Bertha Lewis, chief executive officer of ACORN; Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Fred Smith, chairman and chief executive of FedEx Corp.; Steve Odland, chairman and chief executive of Office Depot Inc.; John Chambers, chairman and chief executive of Cisco.

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Strange brew

Ginger Baker is so much fun to listen to but then again, what incredible talent all around in that band. Read the rest of this post...

Guinness turning 250

How exactly does one get a 9,000 year lease on a property? The Independent:

The seeds of the Guinness brewery were sewn in 1752 when a young Arthur was left £100 by his godfather, the Archbishop of Cashel, Dr Arthur Price. Guinness's father was a land steward on the Archbishop's estate and helped brew beer for the workers. Arthur and his brother ploughed the cash into a brewery in Leixlip, County Kildare in 1756. Three years later, in 1759, a 34-year-old Arthur upped sticks and took a 9,000-year lease on a dilapidated brewery in St James's Gate, Dublin, in order to try his hand at porter, a brew involving roasted barley that turned the drink black and so called after the porters who drank it.

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Grizzly bear populations starving, declining in Canada

The main culprit appears to be the decline in the salmon population which they eat. What I didn't know about Grizzly bears is that they used to cover much more of the continent and were pushed back to Canada and Alaska when Europeans arrived. The Guardian:

A furious row has erupted in Canada with conservationists desperately lobbying the government to suspend the annual bear-hunting season following reports of a sudden drop in the numbers of wild bears spotted on salmon streams and key coastal areas where they would normally be feeding.

The government has promised to order a count of bears, but not until after this year's autumn trophy hunts have taken place. It has enraged ecology groups which say that a dearth of salmon stocks may be responsible for many bears starving in their dens during hibernation. The female grizzlies have their cubs during winter after gorging themselves in September on the fish fats that sustain them through the following months.

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O'Reilly vs. Steele on the Public Option

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