Later On

ThinkProgress:

On his radio show this morning, conservative talker Bill Bennett hosted the most prominent global warming denier in Congress, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK). Opening up the conversation on the subject, Bennett declared, “I think you’ve prevailed on this.”

“I really believe it,” replied Inhofe, claiming that his opponents “won’t say global warming any more, they’re trying to say climate change.” He added that he thinks former Vice President Al Gore is “getting nervous” because, he claimed, “the science is totally changed.” Inhofe then claimed that more scientists are skeptical of climate change than those who believe in it:

INHOFE: So the science, the science is totally changed. It was the IPCC, those Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with the United Nations. But keep in mind, the only report you get from them is their summary for policy docs. And those are not scientists. There’s only 52 scientists that signed on to those, to that, as opposed to what? Some 650 who now have rebuked that.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Inhofe’s comments are loose with the facts. The 52 scientists he refers to prepared the 2007 IPCC report’s “Summary for Policymakers,” but the report itself was “a synthesis of thousands of scientific papers” and was built on the work of “2500 scientists over six years.” As for Inhofe’s discredited 650 skeptical “experts,” some of them actually support the theory of manmade global warming.

Further proving the fallacy of Inhofe’s claims, a survey of 3,146 earth scientists released earlier this week found that 90 percent believe that mean global temperatures have risen compared to pre-1800s levels and 82 percent believe that human activity has been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures. Ninety-seven percent of climatologists said humans play a role.

Transcript at the link, where you can also listen to the interview.

Yesterday’s soap left me wanting more lemon fragrance, so this morning I picked Honeybee Spa’s Fresh Lemon shave stick, which produced a fully fragrant and rich lather with the Simpsons Key Hole 3 Best. The Edwin Jagger Chatsworth did its usual fine job, and the citrus theme led me to Geo. F. Trumper West Indian Extract of Limes aftershave. Good start to laundry day.

This post has some very good advice on résumé writing. Take a look, if you’re working on a résumé—as who isn’t, in this economy?

Just received back the knives I had mailed to JustKnives101’s Sharpening Service in New Jersey. They did a very nice job, and the knives are better than ever.

From Dan Froomkin today:

Hope Yen writes for the Associated Press that Obama’s move comes as "the latest in a three-decade-long pingpong game with FOIA policy.

"In the late 1970s, Carter’s attorney general, Griffin Bell, issued guidance to err on the side of releasing information. Under Reagan, William French Smith came in and reversed that; he told them, ‘when in doubt withhold.’ Then under Clinton, Janet Reno reversed it again; she told agencies their presumption should be for release.

"But Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft went back the other way in October 2001, telling agencies he would defend any legal justification for withholding documents. . . .

Note strong correlation of political party and support for the FOIA. Correlation is not causation, of course, but in this case causation produced the correlation.

More details emerge:

Last night on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” former analyst for the National Security Agency Russell Tice revealed that the NSA had “monitored all communications” of Americans and specifically targeted journalists:

TICE: The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications. And it didn’t matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made any foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications. […] But an organization that was collected on were U.S. news organizations and reporters and journalists.

OLBERMANN: To what purpose? I mean, is there a file somewhere full of every e-mail sent by all the reporters at the “New York Times?” Is there a recording somewhere of every conversation I had with my little nephew in upstate New York? Is it like that?

TICE: If it was involved in this specific avenue of collection, it would be everything. Yes. It would be everything.

Tice, a major whistleblower who helped reveal President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program to the New York Times in 2005, also told Olbermann that the agency sought specifically “to be deceptive” to prevent congressional committees from learning more about the program, calling it “a shell game”:

TICE: The agency would tailor some of their briefings to try to be deceptive for — whether it be, you know, a congressional committee or someone they really didn’t want to know exactly what was going on. So there would be a lot of bells and whistles in a briefing, and quite often, you know, the meat of the briefing was deceptive.

Watch portions of the interview (full interview here):

In October, two other whistleblowers told ABC News that the NSA “routinely” listened in on Americans’ phone calls and agents would often share “salacious or tantalizing” intercepted calls with each other. All this despite Bush’s frequent protestations that his illegal wiretaping program was “limited,” that it targeted only “a phone call of an al Qaeda, known al Qaeda suspect,” and that he ensured “that our civil liberties of our citizens are treated with respect.”

To the end, Bush and Cheney defended the program. In his final days in office, Cheney declared that “it always aggravated” him that the NY Times won a Pulitzer for exposing his administration’s illegal spying program.

Update:  Olbermann will interview Tice again on his program tonight, airing on MSNBC at 8 pm EST. ThinkProgress is interested to know whether Tice ever experienced political interference while working for the agency. What questions do you have?

From a ThinkProgress post:

… Congress, however, isn’t so ready to move away from the old Washington. Roll Call reports today that the GOP is building a new K Street Project to cozy up with lobbyists:

Senate Republicans have tasked Conference Vice Chairman John Thune (S.D.) with beefing up the party’s outreach to K Street, business groups and grass-roots organizations, hoping to maintain critical alliances built up over eight years of White House control.

Primarily, Thune said he hopes to create new alliances and fortify old relationships in order to sell the party’s priorities to the masses as it tries to reinvent itself after suffering bruising Congressional losses in the past two election cycles.

The previous version of the K Street Project, established by Tom DeLay and his cronies, set up a pay-to-play machine that self-admittedly operated by the old adage of “punish your enemies and reward your friends.” Lobbyists were given influence over legislation in return for donations to Republicans and a refusal to hire Democrats. DeLay’s influence is still felt on K Street, where there remains a “collective griping” at the dominance of Republicans…

ThinkProgress:

The media are reporting that former Sen. George Mitchell, who handled the Northern Ireland peace process, is being eyed by the Obama administration to be a top diplomatic envoy to the Middle East. In 2001, Mitchell produced a report on the Middle East which recommended that Israel freeze all its settlement activities. Without a freeze, a cessation of violence would be “particularly hard to sustain,” he argued. While Mitchell’s impending appointment is earning a great deal of praise, the Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman complains the diplomat is too fair and balanced for the post:

“Sen. Mitchell is fair. He’s been meticulously even-handed,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “But the fact is, American policy in the Middle East hasn’t been ‘even handed’ — it has been supportive of Israel when it felt Israel needed critical U.S. support.”

“So I’m concerned,” Foxman continued. “I’m not sure the situation requires that kind of approach in the Middle East.”

The blog Cheap Healthy Good, with the tagline “Mmm…inexpensive”, has published a lengthy list of one-dish meals with links to the recipes. Go see.

OMG, this recipe looks absolutely heavenly. I’m definitely making it. Look at the link for photos and for a link to more such recipes, but here’s the actual recipe:

Quinoa Salad with Shiitakes and Fennel
Serves 6

2 cups quinoa
1 quart water
Salt
1/4 cup peanut oil
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 cups thinly sliced fennel (about 1 large bulb)
2 cups sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 cup sliced green onions, both white and green parts (about 1 small bunch)
1 tablespoon soy sauce (I’d double this next time)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (I’d double this next time)
1/2 cup toasted, salted cashews (optional)
4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
4 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime

1. Rinse the quinoa under cool running water, then drain well with a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth-lined strainer (the grains are very small and will slip through a coarse strainer). Heat a wok over medium-high heat and toast the quinoa, shaking the pan frequently, just until the grains dry, are just beginning to color and have a nutty aroma, about 4 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.

2. In a medium, lidded pot, bring 1 quart of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in the quinoa with a pinch of salt, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook the quinoa until the grains are translucent and tender and the germ has spiraled out from the grain, 12 to 15 minutes (be careful not to overcook). Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, heat the wok again over high heat. Add the peanut oil and heat until it just begins to simmer. Stir in the garlic and fry, stirring constantly, just until the garlic is golden, about 30 seconds (the garlic can burn quickly). Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon, keeping the oil in the pan, and set aside.

4. Add the fennel to the oil and fry, stirring or tossing frequently, until it is caramelized, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oil and set aside. Add the shiitakes to the oil and stir-fry until caramelized, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir the green onions in with the mushrooms and continue to stir-fry just until the green onions begin to wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and vinegar to the mixture and stir or toss to combine, then remove from heat.

5. In a large bowl, gently toss the quinoa with the warm shiitake-green onion mixture, the fennel, garlic, cashews, parsley, cilantro, lime zest and juice. Season to taste with additional salt if desired and serve immediately.

From Mark Bittman:

Germans eat less meat than Americans, but they still eat a lot. Yet their equivalent of the EPA is recommending that they cut back even more. How “a return to Sunday roasts” fits that plan is beyond me, but still, worth noting. Funnier, is this little ditty, about the former chancellor Helmut Kohl’s appetite. (Thanks to Kate Bittman.)

I’m reading Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, and I just got to the part where George McGovern, then in the Senate, discovered through hearings all the scientific evidence that showed clearly that a diet heavy in beef and dairy was quite unhealthful. He promulgated this knowledge—“Cut back on beef and dairy and eat less of those”—only to be swarm-attacked by the beef and dairy industries and their lobbyists. Their issue was not with the facts, which were clear, but in the possibility that sales would drop somewhat.

The result of that was the rise of nutritionism, in which the discussions and recommendations focus on specific nutrients and not on food.

I have cut back a LOT on beef and dairy. It’s hard, in fact, to think again of eating beef, though I’m sure I will. But I will make great efforts to get grass-fed beef (i.e., cattle fed with cattle food, not with corn, which kills the cattle) and I will eat small portions. After all, the centerpiece of a meal is greens, right?

This, from 5 Second Rule, sounds worth making. Lately I find that, rather than using chili powder, I just use ancho chile powder, chipotle powder, ground cumin, and Mexican oregano.

Zesty Wheat Berry Black Bean Chili

I developed this recipe for Eating Well magazine, and it ran in their March/April 2007 issue.  (It’s still online here.)  Remember to have your wheat berries cooked and ready to go before you begin.  If using frozen, cooked wheat berries, just toss them directly in the chili and heat through  (no need to defrost).

Makes 6 servings

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
2 14-ounce cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
1-2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
2 cups cooked wheat berries
Juice of 1 lime
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes, chipotle to taste, broth and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes.

Stir in cooked wheat berries and heat through, about 5 minutes more. (If using frozen wheat berries, cook until thoroughly heated.) Remove from the heat. Stir in lime juice. Garnish each bowl with avocado and cilantro.

At last. From the Center for American Progress in an email:

During his campaign, Barack Obama spoke often of the need for open and accountable government. "Too often the American people don’t know who Washington is working for, and when they find out, they don’t like what they hear," he said in Sept. 2007. Obama has echoed what advocates of open government had long called for: "[S]hining a bright light on how Washington works." Yesterday, President Obama took the first step towards fulfilling those campaign promises by issuing a series of executive orders and memorandums that "aimed at greater government openness and accountability." Principally, the directives restore the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and reverse rules enacted by President Bush that gave the White House unprecedented authority to withhold presidential records. Further, the President implemented strict rules governing the employment of lobbyists in his administration. By extending his transition’s spirit of openness, Obama is building the infrastructure for an open and accountable administration. Still, as New York Times columnist Frank Rich noted last night on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show, Obama has "a lot of turning back to do" with regard to Bush’s era of secrecy and that progressives must "trust, but verify" that Obama’s stated transparency goals are met.

AN ERA OF SECRECY: When Bush left office on Tuesday, he completed what is widely viewed as the most secretive administration in history. Evidence of this secrecy is made blatantly obvious by the fact that, under Bush, the number of new documents per year deemed to be state secrets increased by 75 percent. Less obvious, but perhaps more damaging was the administration’s restriction of unclassified information. As he entered office in 2001, Bush directed his Attorney General, John Ashcroft, to issue new guidelines governing FOIA disclosures. Ashcroft’s guidelines "encouraged federal agencies to reject requests for documents if there was any legal basis to do so." As a result of that directive, the government’s FOIA compliance rate deteriorated. By 2006, two in five FOIA requests were left unprocessed, the number of exceptions cited to justify withholding information increased 83 percent, and the Justice Department’s grant rate fell 70 percent. As the Project on Government Secrecy’s Steven Aftergood wrote for Slate in 2005, "Information is the oxygen of democracy. Day by day, the Bush administration is cutting off the supply." Under the new standard, Obama is urging executive agencies to err on the side of openness. Additionally, Obama’s directives give "ex-presidents less leeway to withhold records" under the Presidential Records Act.

Read the rest of this entry »

From the Center on American Progress via email.

It appears that President Obama will get to keep his Blackberry. More specifically, he’ll get a "spy-proof" alternative that is "reportedly capable of encrypting top secret voice conversations and handling classified documents."

The Marijuana Policy Project would like to know. Here’s an email I just received:

“The fact is, today, people don’t go to jail for possession of marijuana. I know you like to pretend it does, and there’s a lot of misinformation about that. But finding somebody in jail or prison — for a first time nonviolent offender — for possession of marijuana is like finding a unicorn … It doesn’t exist.”

–John Walters, Bush White House drug czar
September 4, 2008

Drug warriors love to claim that marijuana prohibition doesn’t cause harm to otherwise law-abiding citizens — because if they acknowledge the truth, their public support falls apart.

When we’re able to present the stories of real people who have suffered under marijuana prohibition, we find that public indifference to the issue dissolves — and laws change.

If you yourself have been a victim of the war on marijuana users, I’d like to ask if you’re willing to share your story. For instance…

• Have you ever been arrested or jailed for marijuana possession?
• Have you ever been arrested for marijuana possession and later charged with a more severe crime, like intent to distribute?
• Did your arrest result in additional suffering, such as losing your job, home, custody of your children, or school loan?
• Have you ever taken a drug test that resulted in a false positive?
• Are you a patient in one of the 13 states where medical marijuana is legal who has been arrested or harassed by law enforcement agents despite your state-legal status?
• Do you lack safe access to or are too afraid to use medical marijuana because of state or federal laws, although it could alleviate symptoms of your serious medical condition?

If so, please e-mail me at rob@mpp.org to share your story. Please be sure to indicate what state you live in. We will not use your story or your name without your permission, and if you’d like to be anonymous, just indicate that when you e-mail.

While MPP can’t offer individual legal help, we can turn your experience into ammunition as we campaign to change laws. Many Americans truly don’t realize the impact that marijuana prohibition has on their neighbors, and individual stories are a powerful tool in helping change minds — and laws.

Keith Dixon has a couple of good recipes. As he notes in the piece, “If I marinate with yogurt, lemon and mint, I get light Greek flavors; saffron, rosemary and garlic provide Spanish character; and scallion, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil render Asian flavors.” Here are the recipes:

Chicken Wings With Chili, Scallion, Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil

Yield 2 dinner-sized servings, or 4 snack-sized servings

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken wings
• 1 Serrano or jalapeño pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 piece of ginger half the size of your thumb, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 scallions, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1. Using a sharp knife or poultry shears, separate the wings down the middle, slicing the drumette from the double bone piece—don’t worry about getting the separation point exact. Set aside.

2. Add the remaining ingredients except for the sesame seeds to a food processor and puree. Pour puree into a bowl, add the chicken pieces, and combine well, then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 425. When ready to cook, place a baking rack on a baking sheet with raised sides—shake extra marinade off the chicken, then lay the chicken pieces on the rack, leaving space between each. Roast 20 minutes, remove from oven, flip pieces, scatter the sesame seeds over the chicken, then roast another 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Read the rest of this entry »

Media Matters:

Following President Obama’s January 20 swearing-in ceremony, CNN host Lou Dobbs and syndicated columnist L. Brent Bozell joined a growing list of media figures who have repeated a false comparison between projections of the cost of Obama’s inauguration and estimates of the cost of former President Bush’s 2005 ceremony and surrounding events. The figure given by Dobbs, Bozell, and other media figures for the cost of Bush’s last inauguration excludes security, transportation, and other incidental costs to federal, state, and local governments, as Media Matters Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert noted.

On the January 20 broadcast of United Stations Radio Networks’ The Lou Dobbs Show, Dobbs claimed that Obama’s "inaugural celebration from start to finish will cost an estimated $170 million, and that dwarfs the $42 million spent on George Bush’s inauguration just four years ago," echoing other media figures’ comments.

Similarly, Bozell wrote in his January 21 column: "For the record, the ‘lavish’ Bush inaugural cost $43 million. Final tallies are not complete, but according to some sources, like the Guardian newspaper, the Obama inaugural will cost more than $150 million."

But the figures they gave for Bush’s inauguration omit costs that are included in the Obama projections. With security, transportation, and other expenses incurred by federal, state, and local governments, which reportedly reached $115.5 million in 2005, the cost of Bush’s inaugural events that year was $157 million.

More at the link.

My understanding is that some titles (Ambassador, Governor, Senator, Judge, and field rank and above in the military, for example) remain with the officeholder even after he leaves office—Adlai Stevenson, later in life, was addressed as “Governor” and “Ambassador” from time to time.

My further understanding is that “Mr. President” is NOT such a title. There is only one “Mr. President,” and that is the current holder of the office. George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton no longer should be addressed as “Mr. President,” but simply as Mr. Bush (for the first two), Mr. Carter, and Mr. Clinton. (Neither Carter nor Bush 41 attained field rank.)

I heard my notion supported by the a White House protocol officer once on NPR.

Via James Fallows, a fascinating article in Vanity Fair, which has been doing some excellent journalism. This article begins:

The threat of 9/11 ignored. The threat of Iraq hyped and manipulated. Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. Hurricane Katrina. The shredding of civil liberties. The rise of Iran. Global warming. Economic disaster. How did one two-term presidency go so wrong? A sweeping draft of history—distilled from scores of interviews—offers fresh insight into the roles of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and other key players.

January 20, 2001 After a disputed election and bitter recount battle in Florida whose outcome is effectively decided by the Supreme Court, George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States. In foreign affairs he promises an approach that will depart from the perceived adventurism of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, in places such as Kosovo and Somalia. (“I think the United States must be humble,” Bush said in a debate with his opponent, Al Gore.) In domestic affairs Bush pledges to cut taxes and improve education. He promises to govern as a “compassionate conservative” and to be “a uniter, not a divider.” He comes into office with a $237 billion budget surplus.

On the day of the inauguration the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, declares a moratorium on the Clinton administration’s last-minute regulations on the environment, food safety, and health. This action is followed in the coming months by disengagement from the International Criminal Court and other international efforts. Nonetheless, the early presumption is that the administration’s affairs are in steady hands, though some disquieting signs are noted.

In the Oval Office on January 20 the first President Bush and the new President Bush greet each other with the words “Mr. President.”

Dan Bartlett, White House communications director and later counselor to the president: It was a bitterly cold day. They got back to the residence from the inauguration. The president was going over to have his first moment in the Oval Office as president of the United States. And he called for his father because he wanted his father to be there when it happened. If I recall correctly, George H. W. Bush was soaking in the tub trying to warm up, because it had been so cold on the viewing stand. Not only did the former president quickly get out of the tub, but he put his suit back on, because he was not going to enter the Oval Office without a suit. His hair was still kind of wet.

Joschka Fischer, German foreign minister and vice-chancellor: We thought we were going back

Continue reading.

By Jodi Kantor in the NY Times, the article begins:

The president’s elderly stepgrandmother brought him an oxtail fly whisk, a mark of power at home in Kenya. Cousins journeyed from the South Carolina town where the first lady’s great-great-grandfather was born into slavery, while the rabbi in the family came from the synagogue where he had been commemorating Martin Luther King’s Birthday. The president and first lady’s siblings were there, too, of course: his Indonesian-American half-sister, who brought her Chinese-Canadian husband, and her brother, a black man with a white wife.

When President Barack Obama was sworn in on Tuesday, he was surrounded by an extended clan that would have shocked past generations of Americans and instantly redrew the image of a first family for future ones.

As they convened to take their family’s final step in its journey from Africa and into the White House, the group seemed as if it had stepped out of the pages of Mr. Obama’s memoir — no longer the disparate kin of a young man wondering how he fit in, but the embodiment of a new president’s promise of change.

For well over two centuries, the United States has been vastly more diverse than its ruling families. Now the Obama family has flipped that around, with a Technicolor cast that looks almost nothing like their overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly Protestant predecessors in the role. The family that produced Barack and Michelle Obama is black and white and Asian, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. They speak English; Indonesian; French; Cantonese; German; Hebrew; African languages including Swahili, Luo and Igbo; and even a few phrases of Gullah, the Creole dialect of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Very few are wealthy, and some — like Sarah Obama, the stepgrandmother who only recently got electricity and running water in her metal-roofed shack — are quite poor.

“Our family is new in terms of the White House, but I don’t think it’s new in terms of the country,” Maya Soetoro-Ng, the president’s younger half-sister, said last week. “I don’t think the White House has always reflected the textures and flavors of this country.”

Continue reading.