Matthew Yglesias is part of the JournoList liberal pundit/reporter listserv.

Indeed, the advantage of JList, members say, is that it provides a unique forum for getting in touch with historians and policy people who provide journalists with a knowledge base for articles and blog posts.

Yglesias, who writes an eponymous blog hosted by the Center for American Progress, noted that “the combined membership has tentacles of knowledge that reach everywhere,” adding that “you can toss out a question about Japan or whatever and get some different points of view.”

And what is on Yglesias' mind lately? What "tentacles of knowledge that reach everywhere" is he spreading out? As caught by Mickey Kaus (in yesterday's 4:02 PM entry)...

While some Obama supporters deride "Tea Party" tax protests on the grounds that Obama hasn't increased taxes on the bottom "95 percent of working families" yet, the diligent Matt Yglesias is already trying to figure out which ones to raise. ... 4:02 P.M.

Following that link, we find Yglesias arguing with another liberal about the best way to to secure "broad-based" new tax revenues in order to pay for Obama's health care plans...

[A]s IÂ’ve been saying, the case for such taxes [on unhealthy habits like smoking] rests on the claim that raising revenue through some source or other is going to be necessary when the recession ends. As you can see, Obama administrationÂ’s budget (demarcated with the dotted lines) leaves revenue as a percent of GDP far too low to pay for the government services we need:

That dotted line already assumes you’re repealing Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. You could—and we probably should—raise taxes even further on the rich. But I don’t think there’s a realistic way to get all the way to where we need to go purely through that mechanism. So the isse becomes that if you’re going to have broad-based sources of revenue, it makes sense to obtain a decent chunk of that revenue through taxes that, at the margin, encourage healthier behavior rather than through taxes that, at the margin, discourage economic activity.

Now Yglesias is not exactly the most influential reporter or pundit in DC. But he is a member of the secret liberal JournoList, which includes other, not-really-super-important people like Jonathan Alter who, despite their relative lack of genuine importance, are nevertheless completely reflective of standard-issue left-liberal thought.

From which we deduce that most reporters and pundits in DC are aware of the simple math involved in this problem, and know for a fact that Obama's spending plans absolutely require new "broad-based sources of revenue" and that while the rich may be taxed even more, their contributions alone will not be enough to get us anywhere near a balanced budget.

But while liberal reporters and pundits debate the coming tax hikes -- usually in private and in secret -- their public announcements tend to simply repeat Obama's claim that he's not raising taxes on anyone -- "not a dime" from any sort of tax -- except the top 5% of earners.

Which they know is completely false.

What they say to the public -- scoffing at the Tea Party rebels for protesting tax-hikes that, supposedly, do not exist and never will -- is in complete contradiction to what they actually know -- know -- is underfoot and on Obama's agenda.

It's an open secret that Obama is going to raise taxes on the middle class. Every liberal in the press corps knows this.

How the hell can they justify failing to report it? The President is lying -- and the numbers prove that without any doubt whatsoever -- and instead of going after that easy-to-write scoop, they act as his press deputies, regurgitating a line they know is 100% false.

And even worse -- we know the more wonkish among them are plotting precisely which taxes to raise on the middle class, and when, and by how much. They're engaged in these arguments while hiding the mosot basic truth from the public.

Obama seeks to get the public "a little bit pregnant" on increased tax hikes for the middle class, by jacking up spending so high they become more or less necessary. (The possibility of cutting spending is always unlikely; especially for Mr. Transformative.) But we know even as we spend ourselves into ruin that such tax hikes are necessary-- and liberal reporters know it too.

When Obama finally springs this shocking revelation on us, after the 2010 midterms or after he's been safely reelected to a second term in 2012, he will, of course, claim that the deficit situation has deteriorated far more than he expected (due, no doubt, to the evil Bush economy) and that he's utterly surprised to learn that he will, reluctantly you understand, have to ask for more sacrifice from the middle class than he ever, ever anticipated.

Will the media feign shock and surprise along with him?

PS: Will they also claim that President Toxic Asset has a mandate for raising taxes, because the public went along with the huge spending that made such increased taxes a necessity?

That would be the double-whammy -- they support Obama in his lies as he promises to not raise taxes on the middle class, and then claim the middle class gave its blessing for such tax hikes because they knew all along what they were getting into.

I imagine they'll be quite a few reporters -- including those on JournoList -- making that argument.

Posted by: Ace at 09:51 AM | Comments (97)
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Guns don't kill people, people protecting themselves from savage criminals do.

A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and theyÂ’re thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.

...Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.

“They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, ‘Give me your wallets and cell phones,’” said George Williams of the College Park Police Department.

Bailey said the gunmen started counting bullets. “The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough,” said Bailey.

ThatÂ’s when one student grabbed a gun out of a backpack and shot at the invader who was watching the men. The gunman ran out of the apartment.

The student then ran to the room where the second gunman, identified by police as 23-year-old Calvin Lavant, was holding the women.

“Apparently the guy was getting ready to rape his girlfriend. So he told the girls to get down and he started shooting. The guy jumped out of the window,” said Bailey.

Don't you love a story with a happy ending?

Posted by: DrewM at 09:38 AM | Comments (97)
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Maine is the second state to legislatively allow same-sex marriage without being forced to by a court order. This gay marriage stuff is happening so frequently now, what would have once been worth a flaming skull is rapidly approaching sidebar headlines status.

The Maine marriage bill, like Vermont's, contains religious conscience exemptions for churches and also explicitly provides that no person for any reason (religious or not) that is allowed to perform marriages can be forced to perform a marriage they don't want to.

New Hampshire is also poised to pass a new marriage law. Like Governor Baldacci before today, New Hampshire Governor Lynch has not stated whether he would sign the bill.

Additionally: The California Supreme Court Prop 8 ruling is due within thirty days. I discussed the case here and the potential outcomes here. I predict that Prop 8 will be upheld, but the 14,000 gay marriages performed prior to its passage will not be invalidated. Ace predicts the "outcome-oriented" Court will knock down Prop 8 here.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:08 AM | Comments (120)
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This story is making the rounds today. If true, it's awful but it also may be posturing before the big Obama-Netanyahu meeting in a few weeks.

The ostensible problem is the Obama administration playing fast and loose with the decades old agreement that the US looks the other way when it comes to Israel's nuclear arsenal. Not surprisingly these idiots are making noises that perhaps the Arabs and the Iranians have a point when they claim there's a double standard in how we deal with nukes in the middle east.

Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, speaking Tuesday at a U.N. meeting on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), said Israel should join the treaty, which would require Israel to declare and relinquish its nuclear arsenal.

"Universal adherence to the NPT itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea, ... remains a fundamental objective of the United States," Ms. Gottemoeller told the meeting, according to Reuters.

...Bruce Riedel, a former senior director for the Middle East and South Asia on the White House National Security Council, said, "If you're really serious about a deal with Iran, Israel has to come out of the closet. A policy based on fiction and double standards is bound to fail sooner or later. What's remarkable is that it's lasted so long." Mr. Riedel headed the Obama administration's review of strategy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan but does not hold a permanent administration position and has returned to private life as a scholar at the Brookings Institution.

It's longish but as the saying goes, read the whole thing.

Joining the NPT would mean Israel would have to declare its nuclear program and disarm.

Meanwhile another administration officials says that the Israeli and Iranian programs are "apples and oranges."

So which is it?

Obama has made worldwide nuclear disarmament some sort of aspirational goal that he trots out to cheers in Europe while knowing it will never happen. Meanwhile, as he meddles ever more in the mid east his administration is sending out conflicting signals on its commitment to 40 years of US policy. Awesome.

Just to be clear, this talk of the NPT is idiotic. The NPT didn't stop India, Pakistan or N. Korea from going nuclear. It didn't stop many countries like Iraq, Libya, S. Africa and others from giving it the old college try to one degree or another.

This faith in treaties is childish. Countries will do what they think to be in their best interest and what they can do with the resources they have. International regimes like the NPT may make it harder and that's a good thing but a truly determined nation will always find a seller for what they want to buy.

Not that Israel will ever sign up for the NPT but it's not that hard to imagine that if they did, they would abide by their commitments while Iran ignored them and proceeded with their weapons program.

Even more disturbing is the idea that the Obama people might think there's some sort of moral equivalence between Israel and Iran. The fact that some in this administration may not see the difference between a free western democracy and an oppressive theocracy is not surprising but it's still depressing when you see it laid out.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:39 AM | Comments (125)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:57 AM | Comments (100)
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If the rest of the media are watching (they're probably not I suspect) they'd realize that they jumped the shark so hard a while ago that they have achieved low earth orbit.

...What terrible plot is our president hiding from us, that he would perform this ludicrous diversionary stunt?

If you wake up tomorrow morning to discover we've bombed Canada, or outlawed the mongoose, well then there's your answer. Till then: vigilance.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 02:42 AM | Comments (112)
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Allow me to say up front, I do not like Michael Savage's shtick or his show in the least. I could go into detail about why but let's just leave it at it not being my thing. That said, the idea that he's being barred from entering the UK would be laughable if it weren't so ludicrous. As a former Anglophile* I'm saddened beyond belief that it has come to this.

Britain published Tuesday a list of 16 people barred from entering the country for allegedly fostering extremism or hatred, including Muslim extremists and a U.S. radio host.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the list is designed to emphasize the kinds of behavior the U.K. won't tolerate. In recent years, Britain has been accused by other governments of harboring Muslim extremists. Amid an elevated threat from both home-grown and foreign terrorists, the country tried to tighten up on who it lets in to preach to British congregations.

The list includes several Muslim preachers and writers accused of glorifying terrorist violence. Four U.S. citizens are named, including Fred Waldron Phelps Sr., a Baptist pastor whom the U.K. accuses of promoting homophobia, and radio host Michael Savage, who has called the Muslim holy book, the Quran, a "book of hate."

This is just idiocy on stilts. Is Michael Savage really one of the 16 most dangerous people in the world who may at some point want to travel to the UK? Of course this shouldn't come as a surprise after Geert Wilders was prohibited from entering the UK.

Naturally this will all work out for Savage in that being one of the 16 worst people in the world according to the UK government has to be good for ratings. Still the idea that the UK government went looking for people to put on their list (he wasn’t trying to get into the country) and a talk show host in the US is what they came up reeks of some sort of ‘PC balancing’… “look we banned a few nasty white Americans so don’t be mad when we keep out the odd Hamas killer or neo-Nazi”.

It's The World Turned Upside Down when the UK bans people for unpopular beliefs and not actions but puts terrorist sympathizers on the public dole.

*I no longer consider myself an Anglophile because I donÂ’t think the modern day UK represents the values that made it a great civilization. TodayÂ’s UK is not the same one that gave the world parliamentary democracy, erased the slave trade from the seas, and saved Europe from authoritarian hell on more than one occasion (they defeated Napoleon and helped beat back the Germans twice and the Soviets one) to name just a few admirable moments in BritainÂ’s long history.

And letÂ’s not forget Monty Python. Of course if that group were trying to make it today they would probably be arrested on hate crimes charges.

No, that once great culture simply does not survive today.

More: Check out this roundup of greatest hits from Jacqui Smith, the cabinet member responsible for this Dirty Dozen Plus 1/3 List.

Note: Yes, this is kind of old. I wrote the post yesterday but the site was acting up and it got stuck in draft for awhile. Since today is a sloooow newsday, I thought I'd throw it up for discussion.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:56 AM | Comments (78)
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_{Comments appear to be down, so a reminder for those that must opine, Ace's backup "New" but never ready for prime-time url: http://ace.new.mu.nu/}

Genghis is once again under the weather. No, probably not the Swine Flu. Odds are, given his latest dating choices, it's a rather insidious case of hoof & mouth disease.

So once again, and perhaps for the next few nights, I'll be serving your evening Open Blog.

On tonight's menu, we have a delightful cross-section of Americana.
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:02 PM | Comments (205)
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There's nothing like some hot green-on-green action.

The Edge and his wife, Morleigh Steinberg, bought 156 acres in Santa Monica Mountains and now want to build five mansions there...

...The project proposed by The Edge calls for a cluster of five, 10,000-square-foot homes. The two-story, earth-toned dwellings would be the maximum size allowed in areas designated as environmentally sensitive habitat...

..."TheyÂ’re claiming itÂ’s a green environmental project, but youÂ’d have to live in the houses a thousand years" to make up for the carbon dioxide emitted by the trucks hauling the dirt out, said Lawrence Weisdorn, president of the Serra Retreat homeowners association.

Myself, I'd build my palatial mansions in the San Fernando valley so that I could rent them out to porn film makers when I'm not in town.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:51 PM | Comments (33)
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Couldn't have happened to a better guy.

First, he says he would love to see Norm Coleman win his Senate race.

There's still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner.

Then via Allah's Twitter feed we learn Specter remembers that heÂ’s now a Democrat and rooting for Republicans isnÂ’t cool.

And to cap the day off, his new Senate buddies give him a big old middle finger.

In a unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved a resolution that added Specter to the Democratic side of the dais on the five committees on which he serves, an expected move that gives Democrats larger margins on key panels such as Judiciary and Appropriations.

But Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which goes through December 2010. Democrats have suggested that they will consider revisiting Specter's seniority claim at the committee level only after the midterm elections next year.

...When Supreme Court nomination hearings are held later this summer, Specter will be the last senator to ask questions of the eventual nominee -- a dramatically lower profile than in 2005 and 2006, when he chaired the committee and ran the confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Now he may get his seniority back in 2011 at the start of the next Congress or he might not. I can't imagine why they would give it to him. They likely won't need him for the 60th vote by then and the Democrats he'd knock out of order are big time names. Why would they stand aside for this jerk?

What's Specter going to do? Switch back? As Winston Churchill said (and he knew of what he spoke) "anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat." Specter is neither Churchill nor ingenious.

Either way he can't use seniority as a way to try and hold off a primary challenge or in a general election, if he makes it that far.

I guess he'll have to rely on his personal charm and steadfast character instead. Heh.

(The seniority story was via Jake Tapper's Twitter)

Enjoy him Democrats, this moral coward is all yours.

Slushop courtesy of Slublog.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:32 PM | Comments (25)
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