Winter solstice today

The days can only get longer for six months Hooray.

The winter solstice happens because the Earth does not spin upright, but on an axis 23.5 degrees from vertical. As the Earth orbits the sun, it reaches the moment of winter solstice when the north pole is tilted furthest from the sun, making it the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice is as far south as the sun ever gets, shining directly overhead along the Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5 degrees south of the equator. Usually, the winter solstice occurs on the 21 December, but that can shift for the same reasons we have leap years: the Earth takes 365.25 days to orbit the sun, but the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days so each year the solstice is pushed back by around six hours.

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Matt Damon goes after Obama, again

I'll treat this as a news item first, with comments below.

The news — actor Matt Damon was recently quoted in an Elle magazine profile as being still highly critical of Obama. Here's the relevant section (my emphasis and paragraphing):

While most Hollywood power-Dems continue to back their commander in chief—albeit with somewhat subdued ardor—Damon, one of Obama’s earliest and loudest public supporters, told Piers Morgan last year that the president “misinterpreted his mandate” by rolling over to banks and extending Bush-era tax cuts. ...

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who worked for Obama at the grassroots level. One of them said to me, ‘Never again. I will never be fooled again by a politician,’ ” Damon says ... “You know, a one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better.”

Damon gestures in the direction ... of the sign-wielding [Occupy Vancouver] picketers who are beginning to gather steam. “If the Democrats think that they didn’t have a mandate—people are literally without any focus or leadership, just wandering out into the streets to yell right now because they are so pissed off,” he says. “Imagine if they had a leader.”

Yes. Imagine if they had a leader. Where could we find one?

Comments — So now we're at the presidential layer of the "what to do?" discussion. (The 15,000 foot layer is talk like this; the organizing layer is discussed here.)

The choices in 2012 are simple, and they deserve their own post for full exploration. You can:

■ Support Obama
■ Support a primary challenge to Obama
■ Support a 3rd party candidate
■ Support the Republican
■ Stay home

We'll go through the logic of each choice later. But for now, I strongly believe the bottom three options should be treated identically, since they have the same operational effect. Third-party candidates lose, and because they lose, they don't "send a message." Only power sends a message. Bush II lost the popular vote in 2000 and ran the country like a king.

Ask yourself: If Republicans take power, is there any doubt they will continue the Bush Project — permanent Republican rule — in other words, do to us what's being done to Hungary?

I'll have a follow-up on this reasoning shortly. Suffice it to say, for me the choices are only three — Obama, a different Dem, or the Republican.

Let's leave it there until later; as the Democratic cave becomes wider and deeper, the question — what do do? — totally fails to go away. I promise to return to it.

(So, how does a discussion of primary challenges find itself in a post about Matt Damon? Happy accident.)

GP Read the rest of this post...

GOP blinks on payroll tax holiday extension

Ha. Read the rest of this post...

Dear Politifact, Get out of the traditional media echo chamber

One of the nation's supposedly premiere independent fact-checkers accuses all liberals of only getting their news from liberal blogs and Rachel Maddow.

Huh?

I, for instance, happen to read the Washington Post, NYT, LA Times, WSJ, and watch the News Hour in addition to occasionally watching ABC News and CNN, among lots of other traditional media sources depending on the hour, including the BBC and other Brit papers (and from time to time the French and Spanish and Italian press), in addition to reading the liberal blogs and watching Maddow and Olbermann.

Where does Politifact get off accusing "liberals" of only getting their news from "echo chamber nation"?

That's because the editor of Politifact, Bill Adair, is the Washington editor for the Tampa Bay Times, and Adair seems to suffer from spending a bit too much time in his own echo chamber nation.

In Washington's echo chamber nation, if you write a blog, for instance, you're a naive irascible child who has little experience in politics and even less in journalism.  And if you read a blog, you're even lower on the evolutionary scale.  Forget, for instance, that I started this blog after working in national politics, in real jobs, not just internships, for 15 years at that point (going on 23 now) after getting a joint law degree and masters from Georgetown and working in the Senate, the World Bank, and writing professionally for the Economist, among others.  Atrios has a PhD in economics, Marcos is a lawyer, etc.  We're not children.  And we've got just as much, and in some cases more, political experience in Washington politics than many of the people assigned by the traditional media to cover Washington politics.

The blogger blood libel, as it were, was au courant a good seven years ago, when people didn't understood what blogs were.  But now that lots of major newspapers have their own blogs, you'd think soe of the dead tree journalists would have figured out to judge us by what we've done, and what we do, not by the medium in which we do it.

It's very Fox News to knock someone for reading blogs, or watching Rachel Maddow.  But it's even more Fox News to accuse them of only doing those things.  On the left, we have our partisans to be sure, but no one is calling for the destruction of the NYT, Washington Post, ABC, particularly CBS, and all the rest.  Those calls come uniquely from the right, and they come from the highest levels of GOP partisans.  As I think Atrios once wrote, and I'm guilty of some serious paraphrasing, the left wants the media to do its job better, the right wants the media to go away entirely.

Politifact's Bill Adair, sadly, is letting his own old world bias' show through.  He doesn't understand blogs, doesn't understad the left, and is clearly piqued by the criticism he received in the past week for his odd choice of the Democrats basically correct charge that the Republicas were trying to end Medicare as the "lie of the year."  And he let his anger, and his own biases, loose with flying colors.  It doesn't bode well for the traditional media, and even less well for Politifact itself, that people like Adair still don't get what blogs, and our readers, are about. Read the rest of this post...

Romney was for government handouts before he was against them

Of course Mitt's now against government assistance for business because when he did it and earned a few hundred million, it was completely different because he was on the receiving end. It's OK to have positions that evolve but this guy's position evolves on every issue and changes weekly back and forth. What also jumps out here is that government assistance played such an important role in Mitt's financial success. Which way will the wind blow for Mitt tomorrow?

The likely GOP nominee made much of his estimated $250 million fortune buying companies, reorganizing them, and selling them for a profit. Though Romney, whose only government experience is his one term as Massachusetts governor, is quick to claim that he turned around investments using sound management and data-driven strategies, he does not mention one aspect of his success. Bain Capital owned companies that padded their profits using millions in public subsidies. In other cases, firms owned by Bain employed K Street lobbying firms to pursue lucrative government programs. Consider two of Romney’s first major investments: office supply company Staples Inc. and photo album manufacturer Holson Co. Both persuaded state officials to subsidize their growth. Shortly after Bain took control of Holson in 1987, executives pushed for the company to expand in the South. Officials from the firm had negotiated with Gov. Carroll Campbell, a Republican, to extend $200,000 in utility support for a new Holson plant in the city of Gaffney. The local city council also approved a $5 million bond for construction, after meeting with representatives from Holson. Five years after South Carolina’s taxpayers had helped finance the factory, Bain chose to sell Holson’s Gaffney facility for $2.8 million. Romney’s firm reaped the profits on the taxpayers’ expenditure.

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Sarah Who?

redswept / Shutterstock.com

Sarah "Who?" Palin is upset that the Obama White House Christmas card doesn't include Christians holding machine guns at the Mexican border, or something. Of course, Palin fails to mention that the Reagan and Bush White House Christmas cards also didn't exactly scream "Christianity" or "Christmas." But hey, when all that matters is getting attention, accuracy isn't exactly a virtue.

Of course, what's really going on is that Palin isn't in the news any more, the GOP presidential candidates kind of suck, and she's regretting not getting into the race. Read the rest of this post...

Your croissant or your life - Paris’ boulangerie bandit strikes again

File this under "only in France."

Croissant photo via Shutterstock

In the last 10 days, a man believed to be in his 40s has robbed five boulangeries, or traditional French bakeries, in the Hauts-de-Seine region west of Paris, according to police. But instead of asking for the contents of the cash register, this thief goes for the buttery baked goods. In every robbery, he uses the same technique: calmly orders a generous helping of croissants, pains au chocolats and a few other viennoiserie, or baked goods. When it comes time to pay, he brandishes what is believed to be a fake gun.

My name is Inigo Montoya. You took my croissant. Prepare to die. Read the rest of this post...

McConnell: US House should pass 2 month payroll tax holiday extension

Politico:

In a blow to House Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has called on the House to pass a two-month payroll tax extension — while pushing Democrats to negotiate a full year extension of the tax break.

McConnell’s statement came just 30 minutes after Speaker John Boehner pledged that he and House Republicans weren’t backing down from their push for a one year extension of the tax, which expires Dec. 31.

Ouch.  McConnell isn't willing to fall on his sword, and risk not winning back the Senate next year, for the far-right Tea Partiers in the House.  This puts Boehner in a bad position.  Now it's a Republican vs Republican battle.  Drawing this out any longer only serves to hurt the GOP, and not the Democratic party.  The White House and the Dems in the Senate played this one well.  This is what it looks like to stand up to the Republicans and outfox them at their own game. Read the rest of this post...

GOP House member "Tex" Sensenbrenner makes obnoxious comment about First Lady’s behind

Sadly Rep. Jim "Tex" Sensenbrenner (R-WI) is typical of House Republicans. And they're typical of the fringe that now runs the GOP.

I'm posting this because people need to know the filth they voted for.

As an aside, Sensenbrenner is best known for his family having created the Kotex tampon (seriously). That's why people call him "Tex."  Perhaps that's why he's so angry. Read the rest of this post...

Two female sailors share traditional 1st kiss of shore leave

A historic, and adorable, first took place yesterday when two sailors shared the traditional first kiss when one returned to land for shore leave. Up until now, only heterosexual couples have been selected to be the first to leave the boat to share the traditional kiss. The photo and video are adorable. Read the rest of this post...

White House to make big push today on Payroll Tax Cut - what does $40 a paycheck mean to you?

I like to think of it as more than just $40 a paycheck - rather, nearly $1,000 a year.  That's a lot of money.  From the White House:

On Thursday at the White House, the President will continue to urge House Republicans to do what’s right for the American people by allowing a vote on the short term bipartisan compromise passed by almost the entire Senate, which is the only option to ensure that 160 million Americans don’t see a holiday tax hike in just 10 days and to give Congress the time needed to work out a full year extension. If Congress fails to extend the payroll tax cut, the typical family making $50,000 a year will have about $40 less to spend or save with each paycheck. As a part of the President’s push to get Congress to act, the White House has launched an effort to have average Americans make their voices heard in this debate by asking them to share what $40 a paycheck means to them on www.whitehouse.gov/40dollars and on Twitter at #40dollars. The response has been overwhelming, with more than 25,000 people sending responses from every state in the country so far. At Thursday’s event, the President will discuss what’s at stake for the American people, and will be joined by Americans who would see their taxes go up if the House Republicans fail to act, including some of those Americans who have responded to this call to illustrate what $40 means to them.

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British bankers prepare to sue for bonuses

If ever there was an industry that deserves to be knocked down a few notches, it's the banking industry. Of course the bankers expect their fat bonus checks because they've been receiving them for years. Everyone knew what they were doing was garbage before yet they were still paid ridiculously high bonuses. Even after it all came tumbling down, they weren't sued and asked to pay back the bonuses that they all received which was a major mistake both by the governments who rescued the banks as well as the banks themselves. Let them sue and let them push the public and make them even angrier with the bankers so the political class will finally get off their backsides and do something about it. The right wing loves to talk about a sense of entitlement from the poor but this group is the mother of all entitlement demanders. Even worse, they really cost a lot in terms of payouts and bailouts plus they can ruin an economy, unlike the poor. Breach of contract this, you bunch of jerks:

The prediction comes as the banks are in the process of deciding how to pay their staff for 2011 – a year in which the sector's share prices have been among the worst performers in the FTSE 100 – and despite banker bonuses being viewed with a mixture of horror and astonishment outside the Square Mile. Paul Quain, a partner at GQ Employment Law, said: "Although the banks will have a robust case, there are still likely to be legal claims in the new year because the concept of having the right to receive a discretionary bonus is so strongly embedded in the minds of many bank staff. "There is huge disconnect between bankers' perception of their rights and the legal reality. Bankers seem to have an expectation that they are entitled to a bonus under almost any circumstances, which has been fed by over 20 years of high bonus rounds."

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North Korea’s baby Jesus story

You really have to give them credit for such a story. The previous tale of Kim Jong Il's birth on Mount Paektu, Korea rather than Siberia where the family was in exile was fancy enough, but the story of his death takes it up to eleven.

North Korea says a fierce snowstorm paused and the sky began glowing red above sacred Mount Paektu just minutes before leader Kim Jong Il's death. State media say the ice on volcanic Lake Chon at the mountain in the far north cracked with a load roar. And in the city of Hamhung, a Manchurian crane circled a statue of Kim's father, late President Kim Il Sung, before alighting on a tree, its head drooping before it took off toward Pyongyang.

Also right up there is the tale of the now dead president working hard until the end on his train en route to somewhere important, even though his train had not moved in days. Our politicians often have creative re-writes of history but it's still nothing compared to this. Even the Bible, which was written hundreds of years after the fact, has a number of stretches, but it might not be this bad. Read the rest of this post...

EU banks grabbing up ECB loans

This is a program that was supposed to be valued at around 300 million euros, so those watching are a bit nervous since the number now is closer to 500 million euros. It's great that the banks are going to be in better shape with the loans but after what we watched in the US with similar lending, the banks did little to help anyone other than themselves. Rather than lending to outside business, they often were lending to themselves to buy commodities and jacked up a lot of prices and profits in the process. It's an industry that doesn't know how to behave so let's hope this lending works out better than the US program.

Banks gobbled up nearly 490 billion euros in three-year cut-price loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, easing immediate fears of a credit crunch but leaving unresolved how much will flow to needy euro zone economies. Following a string of failed attempts by euro zone leaders to thwart market attacks on the bloc's weaker members, hopes of crisis relief before the year-end had been pinned on a massive uptake of the ECB's ultra-long and ultra-cheap loans. The near half a trillion euro take-up of ECB funds exceeded almost all forecasts. A total of 523 banks borrowed with demand way above the 310 billion euros expected by traders polled by Reuters, making it the most the bank has ever pumped into the financial system.

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