You’ve capture my feelings/thoughts precisely. Ta EW!

I certainly sympathize with the loss suffered by the family and friends of Tim and they have my condolences, but like you, the stark line I take away from the MSM Villagers, is a self-absorption that says “We matter, you don’t!”

Bravo.

It has annoyed me all day that this man, who was supposed to be a journalist, became the story and far too often. Even now in death, when he was supposed to bring us the story, he’s the story.

The last time we saw this kind of media frenzy was upon the death of his protege, David Bloom. He became the story instead of reporting it not at Bloom’s choice but at Russert’s and NBC’s election, when they focused on his death in those earliest days of the war instead of looking more carefully at why this country was in Iraq at all. At that stage of the war, we had not experienced many war-related casualties; the novelty of death consumed NBC and us as observers. But now we are heartily over this, and all these years later, it becomes really difficult not to attribute Bloom’s death to the failure of the media that rents its clothing and throws ashes today.

To be succinct, the media indulges in auto-necrophagy to amuse itself and to change the subject. One can only wonder what news we are missing as they feast upon their dead.

Bloom is interesting as an analogy. But my mind went towards Peter Jennings. Russert is getting more adulation and coverage than Jennings, and he was not 1/10th of the journalist/reporter, nor seminal media figure, that Jennings was. May he rest in peace nevertheless.

When something happens this suddenly and unexpectedly, people behave differently than they do when they have time to ‘put their houses in order’. It’s human nature.

That said, for the day, he is the story.
And that says a fair amount about the times in which we live.
Perhaps after being so appalled and revolted by the genuinely nasty, negative, demeaning conduct of Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, I cut Russert a bit too much slack simply because contrasted with the loons at Faux, he seemed like a reasonably sane man.

Your post, however, reflects your usual clear-sightedness and perspective.

With about five exceptions, all the men and women who have died in George Bush’s wars have died before they turned 58–many of them at half that age. Many of them have young children they never saw grow up. Many of them never lived the full life that Tim Russert lived–except insofar as they served this country.

It seems that sacrifice–the men and women who died for this country–deserve at least this kind of tribute.

I don’t know how you’d expect different. Less than 1% of people are involved in the fisacos in Iraq and Afghanistan. The only thing that’s ever going to stir the American consciousness about the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan is an all out DRAFT. Congress lacks the balls for a draft and they lack the balls to stop the fiasco. Has anyone noticed the 26 permanant humongous mega-mall sized bases going up in Iraq? Only a draft is going to stir the consciousness of comatose Americans as to the problems with death by explosion (83% of them) in Iraq.

How about the millions of displaced Iraqis (American consciousness “Yawn when is “Gossip Girl” on?) How about the thousands of Iraqi women turning tricks in Middle East countries because they can’t feed their fatherless kids? Condi Rice hasn’t lifted a Manolo Blahniqued Jimmy Chooed toe to get off her ass to allow but a handful of Iraqis refuge in this country.

I’m sorry on a family level for Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, Russert’s wife, Luke Russert, and Tim Senior. As far as a journalist, despite the prattling crap of equally poor journalists on MSNBC and CNN, Russert was a failure who never asked the questions he should have.

You can expect the memorial service to Russert to rival the lengthof time as the lulapaloozaganza that we saw for the Pope and Ronnie Raegan that dragged on for a week.

You can learn more from the reruns of CSI Miami or Criminal Minds.

As you rightly suggest every man, woman, and child who has been killed or maimed by this filthy war far more deserves to be memorialized. We need to give faces to those we simply count and then forget.

Well, except that Ted Koppel was censored for even trying to read their names. I guess none of them were named Russert…

Ew I am sorry for your loss at such a young age. This is going to be really tough on the Russert family. Losing someone suddenly like this is shocking. Russert did a piece about his father and what he meant to him it was one of Russerts best news pieces.( going to be really tough on Russerts father, we know your kids are not supposed to go before you) During this special I learned that Vets could receive economic help with their assisted living (my dad 81 year old Vet). Thanks Tim! ( I have criticized Russert plenty in the past no need to do it now)

Not even the Pope deserved the endless coverage when he died, it was out of control. We know Reagan did not deserve it. But Jesus Mary and Joseph the guy just died. May he rest in peace! Prayers for his family!

There can be no justice when the criminals control the narrative.

thanks marcy, well said. would like to propose one change though:

With about five exceptions, all the men and women Americans who have died in George Bush’s wars have died before they turned 58–many of them at half that age.

You are, of course, not being at all churlish, EW.

For him and for those who knew him personally, Mr. Russert’s untimely death is a tragedy. But multi-hour long televised “pre-wakes”, the New York Times calling him a “towering figure”, are sad hyperbole. They get him, his place in the news, and the place of the news, wrong.

Indeed, they have it backward. It is as if Ed Murrow and not the London Blitz were the story, Walter Cronkite and not Kennedy’s assassination or Vietnam. The Iraq and Afghan wars have been exceptionally deadly for all news gatherers, especially photo-journalists and their local staff who chose to forego being “embedded” and sought out un-predigested news from multiple perspectives. Those wars remain so dangerous for newsies that few of them now cover it. Unlike our men and women in the military, who are there in record numbers and suffering frequent, if not fatal, casualties.

With all due respect to Mr. Russert’s personal life, his professional life epitomized much of what is wrong in today’s corporate news room. That should be as much a topic of his remembrances as his origins in Buffalo, his unparalleled financial success, and his decidedly mixed record at filtering out the important from the sensational.

I feel bad for his family. But, it gives cable news yet another reason to spend an entire day and night not talking about the things that should be talked about. I agree that Peter Jennings was a bigger loss for us.

The parade-like adoration of Mr. Russert could be seen as the corporate, sensationalist press giving itself a Roman triumph. It is about adoring themselves and their newfound importance to the body politic. The news they cover? Gone in a cycle. But they remain. QED.

Luke Russert has been in harm’s way hosting a sports talk show with James the Carville. Talking media heads’ kids don’t do Iraq. They do dorms and luxury. But given the stupidity of it, the parents and kids have a point.

Iraq will be the forgotten deaths and maiming of about 1% of the US forgotten population for many many years to come.

About 1% of Congress will have their children and grandchildren over there. Viet Nam was bigger, but it gave away nothing as to the stupidity of its existence to Iraq.

Great points. Hell 10% of the Iraqi population has been displaced due to our invasion, over 2 million are dead due to invasions and sanctions.
We don’t count how many have been injured. Do most Americans care? Hell No! Ir ia all too evident and this is why so many people around the world fear and hate us. They have very good reasons.

Our country needs to join the 12 step program. Admit our wrongs, face our collective addictions and how they effect the rest of the world and try to change. Try hard. Will it happen? Only time will tell.

I think honest history books will describe the majority of Americans the very same way that history books describe those who sat by as millions were slaughtered by the Hitler regime. People will wonder why so many American people sat idly by and let these Bush administration crimes take place.

The MSM and it’s debased language and motives is not capable nor interested in conveying the reality of what is happening on the ground where our imperial forces are deployed. As in so many instances throughout history the truth is best conveyed by novelists and poets.

Forget History books, many of us around the world wonder that right now.

Well, put.

Tim Russert was the enemy. A liar, a manipulator and a useful tool for the war criminals who lead our nation.

From Cheney, to Bush and now to Pelosi and Dean and Obama our entire political aristocracy is rotten to it’s core and it’s paid synchophants such as Russert that help to make it all possible.

As my mother useta, and still does, say,’

‘Good riddance to bad rubbish.’

Let’s wait awhile before we dance on his grave …

There are some similarities to the indifference. You remember of course that it took Pearl Harbor to get Roosevelt into WWII. He had Jewish cabinet members begging him to get involved with irrefutable evidence of the Holocaust and Hillary Clintonista Harold Ickes’ father blocking the way to talk to Roosevelt about saving the Jews.

Agree with Petrocelli

This post was not an invitation to trash Russert. Say what you will–next year. But he was a father and a husband and he meant a lot to a lot of people–and those people deserve our respect today. I’m calling for greater respect for many more people–not calling for disrespect for Russert.

Russert bought into that Danny Pat Moynihan shift of the northern
working class, e.g. Catholic , away from Democratic party to the
Republicans in the 1970’s. That became to so called center of American
politics and news coverage by NBC among others. It had a comforting but
deleterious effect upon journalism and politics that is the main hurdle
in politics today. This campaign could hve seen him outgrow that mold,
he seemed on the verge, at times, of seeing another politics just as
deserving as his own, sad for his family, and wonder what this will
mean for NBC in this most important political season for us all. Pace.

You bet your ass folks are wondering and fearing. Will we be next? Do we have anything the Americans want or just have to have?

With you. Thought some of the “dancing on his grave” during EW’s last post was out of line and oh so unnecessary. But heh some of us are just peasants here trying to drift through some of the brilliant minds here. But the trashing of Russert is out of line at this point.

Marcy, my nephew is on his nth tour in Iraq and everytime I get a call from the U.S., I cringe.
I don’t approve of what BushCo are doing over there, but I do wish that all our sons and daughters, nieces and nephews come home safely …

I was careful to make the distinction that as a husband, father, and son and friend to many people Russert is a profound loss. As a paradigm shifting incisive news personality, the way he is desultorily being portrayed since early this afternoon on MSNBC, he certainly was not. We have prima donnas on TV for the most part, and very few real journalists or even people who have had legititmate journalism training.

And as for the sacrifices in putting on MTP versus getting blown up in Iraq (and the reference was made in the blog), I don’t see much in the way of similarities. The real journalists who are doing sacrificing are like Richard Engel, Times, NYT, and many other media outlets’ permanat people in places like Iraq.

What was significant in most any issue and line of questioning covered on MTP was what Russert did not ask, and none of the talking heads around the table mentioned. Mary Matlin’s blathering has been an insult to this country and an extension of Addington, Bush, Cheney and Libby for the eight years she has been on that show.

Save 6 million Jews, 3 million Poles and over a million gypsies and handicapped. Lets not forget these folks that the Hitler regime slaughtered.

I had dinner a few weeks back with some friends and met two Holocaust survivors … it was so amazing the connection between them and me that their kids remarked that we are kindred spirits …

“Whenever you share truth it must be with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected” - Gandhi

This is the essence of teaching as I know it.

Reminds me of when a cop gets shot. The whole police force drops all the unimportant citizen cases to go after the ultra dangerous “cop killer”. The excuse is that “if someone would kill a cop, who know what else they are capable of”. (That’s bullshit on so many levels). Did you ever notice how many bullets from how many guns it takes to bring down a “cop killer”?

One of their’s dies, it is important, the rest of us are just the day to day stuff. Cases for the police, or stories for the villagers.

This is a statement of their (the villager’s or law enforcement’s) self importance.

My condolences to the Russert survivors.

But dying also doesn’t change how you lived.

It was over 20 million slaughtered in concentration camps alone, of which 6 million, about a third, were Jews. Read Mein Kampf to see the real horror, the classification of those from eastern Europe, gypsies as well as Jews as sub-human. Those concerned with the extermination of the Jews many times appear to want the attention on themselves, when it was the wholesale extermination that should cause grave concern. It is the apparent unwillingness to believe something so horrific could be practiced by their own government, just like the US treats the “rag-heads” in the Middle East as something sub-human, whose deaths are not even worth a second look. It is the way the warmongers of Israel treat the Palestinians, just a simple step away from the way Nazis treated Jews.

It is not over.

Thank you EW for putting my feelings into great words that I could never come up with. You are such a breath of fresh air when so much is stifling.

You’re right; not one of the casualties should be forgotten nor the many compelling stories of the morbidity in the wake of what happened for the dead, and those surviving these long tragic parts of their lives.

Remembering the Holocuast is critical and talking with Holocaust survivors is mind altering. My only objection to talking about the Holocaust is that it is so important to include all of those who were so brutally slaughtered.

And when we take this a step forward and examine and reflect upon the many genocides that have taken place during the last century and then look at the ones taking place right now it is overwhelming and depressing.

Did the Bush administration plan a systematic genocide of the Iraqi people (not directly at the hands of American soldiers) but indirectly knowing that Shiites would go after the Sunnis and visa versa. Did all of the mistakes (were they mistakes) the too few troops, the allowing the looting of Iraqi historical sites while protecting oil sites, the disbanding of the Iraqi army, the torture etc etc, the 4 million Iraqi refugees. Were these mistakes or a systematic way to take over Iraq?

My friend Peggy Gish who is back in Iraq for her 7th time since the winter before the invasion believes this is true. She began to believe this after hearing so many Iraqi people say this and then watching so called mistake after mistake. Peggy’s group the Christian Peace Maker Team was the first group of individuals to interview and record detainees from Abu Gharib and family members in the summer of 2003. They took and offered these reports to U.S. military offcials early on and were sent away. Sy Hersh and others did use some of the reports written up by the CPT team early on.

Is Iraq a present time example of a systematic genocide? I think so. Bush Cheney and their psychopathic crew need to be held accountable for their war crimes

“Yes the reference was made in the blog” And John Cole who was referenced was indirectly trahsing Russert. Thought this was a bit premature

The vast majority of Israelis since 1948 have never chosen to be war mongers and it is way off the mark to characterize Israel as Israeli warmongers although I don’t think your intent was to paint Israel with broad brush strokes.

Any time you can tell me why Arafat had the opportunity to advance his people constructively and chose only to enrich the coterie of his homies, please be sure to inform me. This includes his slut of a wife whose behavior was reprehensible, particularly when he died, blackmailing people for access to the idiot’s body so she could shop in luxury Ritz Carlton as she had been doing for many years.

A book that does an excellent job of capturing the crisis between the Israelis and Palestinians as well as being a compelling who done it is Richard North Patterson’s Exile.

And for 50 years our media only mentions Jews who were brutally murdered. this is a dis-service to all of the others who were brutally murdered by the Hitler criminals

“blackmailing people for access to her husband’s body so she could shop in luxury on Rue de Honore in Paris, and play with her boytoys in the Paris Ritz Carlton as she did for years.”

Arafat had a chance to develop education for his people, and while there are a number of very educated people who are Palestinians the vast majority of them wallow in squallor where Arafat left them and Hummas and Hezbollah embed/entrench them still.

The vast majority near 99.99999% of Israeli strikes are in response to Palestinian bombs–always have been and always will be.

You’ll certaily get nothing but agreement from me on all these posts. I have a collection of excellent books analyzing WWII, and the development of the atom bomb, and with everything else going on I try to make myself revisit them.

My people (India) were enslaved within their own borders for most of the pat 2000 years, yet today, they choose democracy over any other form of governance because although it is not perfect, it is the least corruptible.
History has seen many Holocausts and we owe it the respect of trying those criminals of our day, for their heinous crimes … are you listening, Pelosi ?

Remember the IT industry journo Russell Shaw who passed away not long ago?

Here’s a piece from one of his friends, a journo that I respect greatly:

The Eva Peron of journalism — http://tinyurl.com/5oj4dj

Comparing the Israeli leaders to Hitler is way out of line. But some of the methods being used to oppress the Palestinian people do reflect a systematic strategy similar to Apartheid. Yes Arafat fucked up but so have many Israeli leaders. (Sharon encouraged the expansion of illegal settlements) Israel does not seem to really want Peace. Otherwise they would agree to get back to the 67 border, sign the Non Proliferation treaty, share the water rights, atop the continued expansion of illegal settlements, share Jerusalem, build the wall on recognized Israeli territory etc etc.

Many nations have recongnized Israel according to the 67 border.

If Israel ever honored the Internationally recognized border. If this ever happenned and Palestinians continued to bomb the Internationally recognized country of Israel I would be all for the International punishing the Palestinians. But as it is I don’t believe Israel wants Peace, I belive they are obly after expanding their borders and influence at all cost.

People will wonder why so many American people sat idly by and let these Bush administration crimes take place.

Leen, on the previous thread @ 16, JThomason makes a comment that, IMHO, is absolutely brilliant — in a technically complex society, regulatory law came to overshadow legislative law.

In my state (Washington), we have two main types of law: legislative and administrative.
RCWs: Revised Code of Washington — created via the legislature
WACSs: Washington Administrative Code — ‘laws’ created via state agencies, and overseen by the governor.

This separation into ‘two kinds of law’ is consistent at every city, county, state and federal government that I’m aware of. But with rare exceptions, the media only cover ‘legislative law’ — only in rare exceptions, like the Torture Memos and Siegelman prosecution — do we get a peek behind the curtains of government to see what kinds of ‘administrative laws’ have been created in the dark, outside the view of most of the public and the media.

IMHO, this is partly due to the visual nature of teevee.
It’s also due to the naivete of most reporters, and their lack of solid knowledge about the scruffy details of the processes, procedures, and personalities that actually enforce government regulations.
… and then we have that other category, “Not. Regulated.” (mortgages, commodities markets, ’securitization’)…
To restate my point: least a Congressional hearing “looks like” people talking; in pathetic contrast, an administrative law would “look like” someone sitting at a computer keyboard… How’s that gonna sell laundry soap and toothpaste?
It isn’t.
So it’s not presented in the news.
So it’s invisible to most Americans.
(And IMHO, it’s also ‘invisible’ to 80% of the reporters in the US, but I digress…)

Yet for most businesses, the ‘action’ is in the regulations.
Businesses don’t have to meet the specific, detailed criteria of a piece of legislation.
Business have to comply with regulations.
So that’s what they care about.

They care who the mayor, the county executive, the governor, the preznit will be.
Because those executives appoint the regulators.

I’ve met biz guys who don’t give a rat’s ass what their legislators do.
But they’ll flatten you to get closer to a county executive or a governor, and the golden tickets for them are: commission positions, and also influence on appointing department directors. That’s what they care about most of all.
Because that’s who creates the rules they actually have to worry about meeting.

Corporate interests care about regulatory structure far more than they care about other areas of government, and ideally they want the executive to be beholden to them and seek their advice in filling committee and commission positions — and department directors. Consequently, their dream is to control the executive branch — and its lock on administrative law. They’d be quite happy to subvert both the legislative and judiciary forms of power, because they don’t want to be hauled into court and they don’t want to have to testify in public.
They like private meetings, private breakfasts, and private fundraisers.
The HATE the media, unless it’s favorable to them.
Otherwise, they absolutely abhor the idea of being in the media UNLESS it’s associated with a charitable event.
The only branch of government they want to deal with is the executive branch, and they put in plenty of energy to make sure they’re as influential with that branch as possible.

Any exec worth a damn can undercut their legislative branch; it happens every single day.
And I have to hand it to Cheney (and even Bush) on that score. They have well and truly subverted the legislative branch, and have no qualms about also subverting the judiciary.

JThomason @16 and LabDancer’s @35 on the previous thread are absolutely brilliant.

I say that as someone who has watched environmental regs be gutted via the executive functions and administrative regs. The time, money, and energy required to oppose those kinds of ‘laws’ can be exhausting.

Sorry if you know all this — and IIRC, you’ve worked in government. I don’t mean to patronize! Writing it all out helps me think a bit more clearly.

But BushCheney are obviously ‘invested’ in telling the courts that they can’t even review the constitutionality of administrative laws.
And Roberts, Scalia, Alito, and Thomas enable that corporatist agenda.

What does any of this have to do with Russert and the press?
Mostly that they cover the wrong damn topics.
It takes a ton of skill and knowledge to do a good job of covering regulators, agencies, and regulations. That is extremely challenging work.
And too little of it gets done.

They gravitates toward the ‘visual’ — candidates kissing babies, ribbon cutting, ‘press conferences’, people exiting from airplanes, grown men strutting on aircraft carriers… meanwhile, somewhere in the bowels of a building, some bureaucat is deciding whether 1ppm of a pesticide triggers a ‘warning’, or whether 5 ppm will trigger it. Either way, if it’s a known carcinogen heading into the food supply… well… this is a long way of saying the press covers the bullshit and misses the story.

That said, I’m still mawkishly sentimenal about Russert’s sudden passing. sigh…
But the bottom line is that there’s too damn little reporting about regulatory appointments and activity — unless you read biz journals, or professional publications. And even then…

Those comments on the prior thread are amazing.
Sorry to rattle on at such appalling length here…

The vast majority near 99.99999% of Israeli strikes are in response to Palestinian bombs–always have been and always will be.

Believe what you want. I have lived there and would beg to differ, seeing a back and forth never even implied in the apparently sanitized American press.

and, you do not have a right to judge Arafat, or his wife. With all due respect, sir, you seem to be imposing your possibly inappropriate values on others. Let those ruled judge their own rulers. If Arafat had to power to befuddle Israeli “negotiators”, well, maybe Israel should get better negotiators.

Somebody actually “gets it”.

Thank you…

and, I have yet to see anyone compare Israeli leadership to Nazi. I do think they are one step away, however.

Great points. Just wonder would the American people care about what is taking place in Iraq if the Russerts, Matthews etc really gave people the news straight up? I don’t know. Somehow the American people seem different more complacent, apathetic, comfortable than during Vietnam, although I did witness hundreds of thousands( millions accumulatively) before the invasion.

Are we different or do people feel more beat down or are we closer to being spiritually and morally bankrupt than we were 40 years ago?

Did you catch this story? Some people I know fled India because of the cruelty and No Exit paradigm of the cast system and deplore dictators (one left because of them) who control some of the Indian states. I’ll readily admit I don’t have first hand knowledge of India but the India that Tom Friedman writes about in The World is Flat http://www.worldisflat.com and the India where the cast system is rigid and your genes screw you to the wall are hard to reconcile.

Hey, if she writes at beliefnet.com, I think that I’ve read some of her reports.
They’re more chilling than I can even begin to describe.

Former President Jimmy Carter really gets it. AS well as NOrman Finkelstein and Bishop Tutu. Have you read Carter’s latest “Palestine Peace; Not Apartheid”? Worth the time

Did you catch this story?

Inside Gate, India’s Good Life; Outside, the Servants’ Slums

We have had much the same thing in the US for years, but the “caste system” is more subtle and not as uniformly applied here as it seems to be in India.

Charlie Rose is perpetuating the myth of Tim Russert as a distinguished journalist.

You can google Peggy’s name and read about the work that she has done and continues to do as well as the work of the Christian Peace maker team. Peggy is about as close to a saint as I think I will ever meet, no ego focused on her work for others. A real “walk the talk” kind of Christian. What an example she is. You can google Peggy Gish at the Soul of Athens (can not link from this computer) and watch a video of her speaking about being kidnapped in Iraq. She was kidnapped for three days in Iraq ( we were asked by her and her husband Art Gish not to talk about this to others until she was ready to talk about it herself to the public.) At one point during her capture (after wrestling with terror and the fear of death) Peggy turned to one of her black hooded captors looked into this young mans eyes and told him that what ever happenned she would forgive him because of her belief in forgiveness and the example of Jesus (I am not churchy and if anyone could get me to be churchy it wouldbe Peggy). They let her go the next day after telling her that she reminded them of their mothers.

Peggy has gone back to Iraq twice after that. She is there now.

Indeed. Excellent.

Like Bill Clinton, Jimmy seemed dissed by the village from the outset, yet I have always thought Jimmy was one of the very few who always put other people first, taking great pleasure only when fellow team members distinguished themselves. A true leader.

The caste system is dead in large cities like Delhi and Bombay and even smaller cities.

Sadly, it is the uneducated, lower castes who hold onto the caste system as strongly as those who use it to keep them underfoot.

No clear answers.
I am, however, a huge admirer of George Soros.
In his 2005 book, “The Age of Fallibility”, he points out that Americans since Reagan seem to assume that government would lie to them, and were seemingly untroubled.

IMHO, much or our problems come down to too much info; the issues are so complex, events happen so fast, there is far more to learn/do/see/read in any given day than we can possibly hope to master that people feel overwhelmed and it shows as ‘passivity’.

People kind of short circuit.
And people with no experience making decisions and taking responsibility in a work, church, civic, or other social environment seem to feel ‘powerless’. The more people feel empowered, or experience responsibility, the louder they seem to be calling ‘bullshit!’.

At least, that’s what I see.
Which means that all Obama’s work in helping empower people may be having a transformative effect. If that’s the case, then that is yet another story the media is missing, and it has to do with personal growth at an individual level, but I don’t expect any clarity for another six months or more.

I’ve seen this strikingly in several places: firedoglake, ew, beliefnet.com, VoteVets, and the Obama campaign. And there’s no organizational coordination among most of those groups.

(Obama’s campaign empowered individuals; Hillary’s, not so much.)

IntelVet, thx for insight and calm phrasing.

Every death is a tragedy, every life precious. Sudden, unexpected deaths are especially hard to deal with. I don’t really begrudge MSNBC their maudlin, overblown coverage of Russert’s death. He was a friend and mentor to the on-screen personalities there. This stuff is far less dangerous than, say, the wall-to-wall Anna Nicole Smith binge. Heck, it may even be better than the typical Friday night fare on MSNBC. In the larger scheme of things, I’ll save my outrage for the war criminals who infest our political caste. I’ll save my tears for the innocent victims of our military misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention those around the world who lost husbands and fathers to our worldwide secret gulags.

Thanks ew thanks all of the fdl crew for helping us with a place to expand our understanding of the law and what has been taking place in our country under the control of the brutal and morally bankrupt Bush regime and a place to share ideas and discuss important issues.

I am going to light a candle for Tim and more than likely shed some tears for his family. (an no I do not think he was a great journalist). And many candles (my own personal voo doo from growing up Catholic) and many tears for those who are losing their lives in this brutal and unnecessary tragedy in Iraq, Namaste folks Namaste

Yeah churcy applies sometimes.

With you

Namaste, Leen !

going “churchy”

You know, I saw that comment by JT on the previous thread and was taken by it as well. I have been saying for quite a while that the new administration is going to need some apparatchik/technocrat/bureaucrat masters to deal successfully, heck to deal at all, with what they are going to face. I don’t know if any incoming new administration has ever been handed a government so cheapened, broken, corrupted, corroded and lethally infused with mechanisms for even further destruction. It literally appears as if there is no facet that has not been so affected.

This is also exactly why I have harped on the critical importance of who is appointed Attorney General. If there is a nationwide functioning nerve center of any presidential administration, it is the justice system and Department of Justice, if for no other reason than the fact that the FBI and US Attorneys are everywhere in every jurisdiction. Trust and efficiency must be restored there. And the things you, and JThompson have expanded on are all present in spades in the DOJ; I have heard things from folks in USA offices and the Bureau that, to my mind, indicate that things may be worse than even what we commonly discuss here. Mostly because these institutions have kind of historically propagated and renewed themselves from within with generations training and mentoring the next generation etc. There is now effectively a two generation gap that is missing and/or devoid of competence in the career ranks. The good people that were there before either left in disgust or were marginalized out of relevance, and the new generation (may be getting close to two at this point) are incompetents and Regent type plants. The very substrate we will need to turn it around is missing; and with civil service law, this will be very hard to remedy without a blow up fight with Goopers.

It is for these reasons that I keep hawking Janet Napolitano; I am absolutely convinced that she has more of the experience, knowledge of bureaucracies, and people skills to overcome these deep set issues, and by a pretty big margin, than any other person on the radar for the job. I have watched her, known her in passing and seen her do the job quietly, efficiently and exceptionally with huge bureaucracies here. If it was a normal situation, it would not be so critical. Things at DOJ are not normal. Just having someone that is good on the issues, or thinks like we do, or that we admire, is not nearly enough right now. It is going to take that AND the ability to institute it top to bottom in a huge bureaucracy, and the people skills to quietly inspire their subordinates to get it done. Just a name or a vision ain’t going to cut it.

The systemically inaccurate premise of Carter’s book so enraged his long time Carter center Middle East Advisor and longtime close friend of Roslyn and Jimmy that Ken Stein who helps head up Israel and Middle Eastern studies at Emory University resigned from the Carter Center staff. About 50 history/ply science/Middle Eastern experts who are proffs at Emory took out full paged adds in major newspapers detailing the panoply of inaccuracies in Carter’s book.

Carter Book on Israel ‘Apartheid’ Sparks Bitter Debate
Scholar Resigns From Atlanta Carter Center

a href=”http://www.ismi.emory.edu/stein.html”>Ken Stein, William E. Schatten Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History and Israeli Studies, Director, Middle East Research Program Emory University

Institute for the Study of Modern Israel
of Emory University

A large number of professors resigned from any connection with the Carter Center on publication of the grossly inaccurate book.

Eloquent. Thank you.

Ken Stein, Director of Middle Eastern Studies at Emory and Poly Sci Prof Resigned the Carter Center over the book

What? Is Carter going to be your new Clinton? Jeebus we get your drift already.

I don’t know if any incoming new administration has ever been handed a government so cheapened, broken, corrupted, corroded and lethally infused with mechanisms for even further destruction. It literally appears as if there is no facet that has not been so affected.

While many agencies are badly damaged, I don’t know of any more difficult and bigger task than the monumental need to repair Main Justice and it’s many sub-agencies in D.C. and vermin like this scumbag Rove tool Leura Canary this lying vindictive tool of Karl Rove Alice Martin.

The Remarkable Recusal of Leura Canary

Career Prosecutors Opposed Siegelman Case

If Conyers hasn’t subpoenaed these two skanks and SJC hasn’t I don’t know why not.

RIP, Pumpkinhead.

I thought there was something being discussed with one or the other of the committees to do just that. What happened to that? Was it to be at the same time as Rove and just is in limbo?

As many posters have been saying all along, many times it is hard to handle the truth, to find your core beliefs a lie.

It is also a part of human experience to experience denial, react and, eventually, come to terms with their new reality.

Taking “sides”, in this case, will be found to be a mistake, one of many we all make as we grow. Gently nudging all parties to a eventual solution is all we can expect. Demonizing any party will only delay a solution.

I have usually found that terrorist activities arise almost always when someone feels disenfranchised in some way. Find a way for them to re-enfranchise themselves, to “own” something worth protecting, be it a daughter/son, a family, a city or country. Make it something they can be proud of, that will demand non-violent behavior.

I have always said, force Israel to set up solar panel manufacturing plants and by extension, solar energy plants in Palestine and make Israel buy energy from the Palestinians. Give Palestinians something adult to be proud of and they will be your best friend, they will go out of their way to police those tending to violence. A much cheaper way to security.

I’ll see your risk of being churlish, and raise you.

You could make a case for this being a suspicious death:

The sudden unexpected death of a potential witness to a crime (the Plame outing) that could bring down the president’s cabal. Coming right after Scotty’s book heats things up again Despite the “why bother” meme being pushed the last year or so, there could still be real consequences for the key players even if they aren’t nailed until after Bush / Cheney leave office.

This may sound like a conspiracy theory (because it is) but the fact is that your chance of death from all causes (accident, heart failure, suicide, drowning, and even hunting incidents) do go up if you become a potential witness to a crime committed by a powerful person or group of people*. While some baseline level of deaths are undoubtedly nothing more than they appear to be, the remainder are just as surely homicides.

So I wonder, will all the Vince Foster die hards start screaming that Tim obviously Knew To Much?

– MarkusQ

* e.g. Clifford Baxter, Dr. Brandy Britton, Athan Gibbs, Tony Giambelluca, James Hatfield, Jake Horton, Steve Kangas, John Kokal, Raymond Lemme, Jonathan Luna, Deborah Jeane Palfrey , Charles Rice, General James Rose, Paul Sanford, Michael Todd, Paul Wellstone, Gus W. Weiss, Dr. Don C. Wiley, and on and on…

Next time in a bookstore grab Carter’s book and take 120 seconds to skim his chapters mischaracterizing Israel.

You’re uncharacteristically over-reacting to a comment I made when someone praised Carter’s book advancing Israeli apatheid. I know Carter and his wife and I appreciate many unselfish things they’ve done. I’ve been at a number of his gatherings and turned him onto Bill James the baseball legend who isnow a Red Socks staff member and gave him his first of many Bill James books. Carter is a huge baseball fan. I just don’t happen to agree with his book, and neither does every Middle Eastern expert who were longtimes staffers helping him collect and context exhibits for the Carter center (which is a great collection of history that a lot of people miss).

So you disagree with comments often, and sometimes I do but that doesn’t mean I’m on a crusade.

It will be interesting to see however if the Clintons ever unpack that suitcase of

2007 tax returns
Foundation financials and contributors
Library contributors

I’m betting they never do, and I think that it hurt them and will continue to diminish the influence and careers of both hundred millionaire Clintons. I don’t expect Hillary to be anything like the impact that Teddy Kennedy has been on the Senate, and she certainly is not going to be majority leader for the next 15 years if ever.

Russert never went into it, but at least he and KO were making what I just referenced above a fixture on their shows without dwelling on it. They at least made passing reference to these items, that are among the great uninvestigated stories of contemporary American journalism.

I expect some books will get into it the way Todd Purdom, Dee Dee Myers husband, started to in this month’s Vanity Fair.

The Comeback Id: Bubba Trouble

As I said, get back to me when you’re read the Richard North Patterson book you can pick up for 6 bucks. I’ve spent considerable time following Israel-Palestinian relations for years.

Let me know how you’d handle s missle directed into the epicenter of your next cocktail party or your kid’s school as Israeli’s have had to handle for years and years unprovoked.

The Palestinians have had multiple invitations to shake free of parties like Hamas and Hezbelloah who keep them down and they have continued to decline.

You might consider going to Gaza and living though, if you think you know how to fix things.

Maybe Ari’s next

Ditto on Janet Napolitano. I’d pretty much endorse her for any position in the next administration. Or anywhere else for that matter. Look what she did for the AZ executive branch (and to get the full impact, start by looking at what her predecessors had done to it).

If you ever find yourself on the Titanic with Napolitano, getting her appointed captain ASAP is probably your smartest move.

– MarkusQ

I sure do admire the way you can spot that one glittering grain of sand in the dung heap of this gov.

And she ran the AZ Attorney General’s Office and US Attorney’s Office just as well. I am not sure what “it” is, but she has got “it” when it comes to calmly and quietly getting all kinds of unruly forces to get into line and get going. Tough as nails ruthless efficiency coupled with charming, disarming warmth and compassion all in the same little package. I can only only hope that Obama has the sense to appoint her (and she did give him an extremely important early full endorsement that really helped him immensely) or not, but, I swear, if there is a human built to take on that overwhelming job, it is her.

PR flacks tend to escape the curse by virtue of being intentionally kept out of the loop from the get-go. The real high risk category is (IIRC, from and NPR story years ago) is gay lovers of Very Important People. They seem to die at the drop of a hat.

– MarkusQ

Thanks for the reminder about financial aid to veterans and veterans’ surviving spouses who reside in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I need to get after trying to set it up for my mother. I’ve heard and read that the bureaucratic obstacles are formidable.

“There are some similarities to the indifference. You remember of course that it took Pearl Harbor to get Roosevelt into WWII. He had Jewish cabinet members begging him to get involved with irrefutable evidence of the Holocaust and Hillary Clintonista Harold Ickes’ father blocking the way to talk to Roosevelt about saving the Jews.”

Pierce you are nuts. FDR was not indifferent. The first evidence we have for his circle having first reports on the Holocaust date to late February and early March of 1942, and these were unconfirmed. Remember Wannsee was in mid December of 1941, a few weeks after Pearl Harbor. Wannsee is the decision point.

Ickes the Elder, FDR’s Secretary of Interior for 12 plus years. Prior to that, Progressive going back to Cousin Teddy’s Bull Moose Party, when he organized Chicago on those terms. Co-Founder of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom with Jane Addams. Yes let’s really misrepresent progressives of the past. No — Ickes did organize the Japanese Internment Camps, because they were put in national Parks or other lands he controlled through his department, but he always opposed the policy. Only Cabinet Member who wrote a diary every day of his life –easy to discover what he thought of the Japanese internement policy.

But back to the claim that FDR was indifferent. Like Hell…

FDR managed to use about 80% of the existing Austrian/German Quota for Jews between 1937 and 1941. He did not ask for an expansion of the Quota or a change in immigration law because he was a pragmatist — if the law was opened up to amendment, it would become more restrictive in that 80% of the American Electorate wanted no quota and/no migration. Congress looked at the voters. Between the Quota and those getting access over the Quota, about a third of German/Austrian Resident Jews as of 1933 had migrated to the US by 1940. There were no American or Palestianian Jewish Groups as of the late 30’s or early 40’s which supported FDR attempting to change the law or the Quota, as they understood the risk of loss of the existing quota, (and over the Quota systems) which in 1940 was about 40 thousand per year, once you factor in the over the Quota cases. And FDR was not all that interested in Fu&*ing the Constitution as to who made law.

If you need references, read Robert N. Rosen’s “Saving the Jews: Franklin Roosevelt and the Holocaust” 2006, and William D Rubinstein, “The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies could not have saved more Jews from the Nazi’s” Routledge, 1997. In Fact, FDR did everything he could do within the confines of American Law and the Constitution, and then he stretched it in places. The FDR Indifference Claim is Right Wing Hooey, and Arthur M Schlesinger has some interesting comments on this tendency in his Journals which were recently published.

FDR had been attempting to engage against Hitler since 1937. He led a country that was isolationist and neutral. He won the vote to keep the draft in place (so as to have an army) by one vote in the late summer of 1941. In August 1941 he won a vote to extend Lend-Lease to Russia by a handful of votes, with about half the congress (mostly Republicans) absent.

Look at the actual history, and then do your indifference dance.

“Next time in a bookstore grab Carter’s book and take 120 seconds to skim his chapters mischaracterizing Israel.
You’re uncharacteristically over-reacting to a comment I made when someone praised Carter’s book advancing Israeli apatheid.”

This is an unfortunate statement. I admire Carter enormously for having the courage to say that most people are afraid to say because of the spectre of A*P*C. I don’t think he mischaracterizes Israel at all. And I find “Carter’s book advancing Israeli apatheid” rather astonishing. Carter is not by any means advocating apartheid; he chose his words quite carefully and, I think, appropriately. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, and so I think he knows something about the matter.

Anyone who looks honestly at what Israel has done to slice and dice the Palestinian homeland into tiny segments cut off from each other deserves the characterization of apartheid in exactly the terms Carter used.

I hope that Obama reads Carter’s book, and listens carefully to him.

Bob in HI

I am not sure what “it” is, but she has got “it” when it comes to calmly and quietly getting all kinds of unruly forces to get into line and get going.

In her case it seems to “find the facts, get a firm grip on them, and never let go.”

Just like the old saw “you can’t cheat an honest man” it seems to be very hard to bamboozle someone who puts the facts first and lets everything else fall in line behind them.

– MarkusQ

bmaz –

I’m sorry we didn’t manage to connect when I was down in AZ; I suspect we could have had some interesting discussions. I’m up in OR now, immersed in chaos, and only getting on-line for an hour or so when the rest of the family is soundly snoring (unless of course I drop first).

– MarkusQ

If it was a normal situation, it would not be so critical. Things at DOJ are not normal. Just having someone that is good on the issues, or thinks like we do, or that we admire, is not nearly enough right now. It is going to take that AND the ability to institute it top to bottom in a huge bureaucracy, and the people skills to quietly inspire their subordinates to get it done. Just a name or a vision ain’t going to cut it.

One of the (many) reasons that I find Mr. Soros’s writing so useful is that he pays special attention to what he calls ‘far from equilibrium situations’. And DoJ is a stellar case right now.

I don’t have anything like your legal contacts, but those I ha