Reason Morning Links

Radley Balko | June 18, 2009

• Obama facing tough questions over his firing of Americorps inspector general, including from Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

• After flubbing the case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, the Justice Department unit in charge of investigating public corruption is in disarray.

• Las Vegas Review-Journal gets subpoena to reveal identities of anonymous commenters to a story about a tax fraud case.

• Jack Shafer throws some water on the Twitter-Iran story.

• When right-wing radio rants go wrong.

Comments

|6.18.09 @ 8:41AM|#

Some more comments (not all glowing reviews, either) are up on The Krug:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/and-i-was-on-the-grassy-knoll-too/

Mike in PA|6.18.09 @ 8:52AM|#

I was thinking about the whole Iran-Twitter thing myself. I understand they can't tweet in Farsi, so the only ones doing spreading the word are the ones who can do so in English?

The pictures don't lie, but the amplification may be skewed. I don't know what goes on in Iran, but I have a feeling we're not getting an accurate representation.

|6.18.09 @ 8:54AM|#

Some of those Krugman comments are even more vomitously boot-licking than the typical Feministing circle rub.

Dear FSM, I hope this is sarcasm:

Like Batman, you are trying to get at the truth and fight the injustice you see around you, may it be economic deception, or human plight. POW! WHAM! BOOM!

|6.18.09 @ 8:58AM|#

SF, this one was much better:

This reminds me of the kind of smear campaign that has been assaulting Darwin for over a 100 years.

There is widespread hammering of willful misinterpretation for some reason.

Stupid pride.

Is it to maintain a population of useful idiots?

Follow the money-- to Dobson and Murdock and Blackwater and Reverend Moon and Rush and the American Enterprise Institute…

|6.18.09 @ 9:03AM|#

[Americorps inspector general] Walpin then took his comments a step further.

"If any mistakes or confusion in statements means that someone is unable to act in the position, well then President Obama once said there were 57 states. Does that mean he's incompetent? No. Or when Vice President Biden has made his various misstatements does that mean he's incompetent? Of course not."

I think this is the most glowing praise Biden has garnered since taking office.

Ben Kenobi|6.18.09 @ 9:06AM|#

I think in a week or so this Inspector General stuff will die down. Is there anybody that's really willing to challenge Obama over it?

|6.18.09 @ 9:12AM|#

jsh,

I couldn't make it that far, I guess. I can handle hundreds of posts by near-incoherent ultra-feminist rants but just a few examples of liberals giving Krugman a tongue-bath upsets the stomach and roils the brain.

|6.18.09 @ 9:17AM|#

Even in California, you can't get away with claiming you thought Crunchberries were a fruit. (pdf)

Kyle Jordan|6.18.09 @ 9:17AM|#

"This reminds me of the kind of smear campaign that has been assaulting Darwin for over a 100 years.

There is widespread hammering of willful misinterpretation for some reason.

Stupid pride.

Is it to maintain a population of useful idiots?

Follow the money-- to Dobson and Murdock and Blackwater and Reverend Moon and Rush and the American Enterprise Institute…"

Ow...

Starts off good, then fails spectacularly.

Graham|6.18.09 @ 9:18AM|#

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- It's a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.

Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.

Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea's cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?

The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale.

The trillions of dollars of debt the U.S. will issue in the next couple of years needs buyers. Attracting them will require making sure that existing ones aren't losing faith in the U.S.'s ability to control the dollar.

The dollar is, for better or worse, the core of our world economy and it's best to keep it stable. News that's more fitting for international spy novels than the financial pages won't help that effort. It is incumbent upon the U.S. Treasury to get to the bottom of this tale and keep markets informed.

GDP Carriers

Think about it: These two guys were carrying the gross domestic product of New Zealand or enough for three Beijing Olympics. If economies were for sale, the men could buy Slovakia and Croatia and have plenty left over for Mongolia or Cambodia. Yes, they could have built vacation homes amidst Genghis Khan's Gobi Desert or the famed Temples of Angkor. Bernard Madoff who?


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a62_boqkurbI

|6.18.09 @ 9:51AM|#

The IG thing ought to be a big story. Kevin Johnson, the former basketball star, was misusing Americorps funds like crazy. The IG called him out on it and Johnson ended up having to pay back 400K. Johnson is a big Obama doner. Low and behold the IG is branded incompetant by Obama and fired without telling congress. If we had a real media it would be a big deal.

SpongePaul|6.18.09 @ 9:53AM|#

The DA in Vegas should be shot for trying to go after online comments, oh shit, now hes gonna come after me.... AHHHHH! its Aripio at my door ahhh!!!!!!!!!!. but seriously, thats FUCKED UP!

|6.18.09 @ 9:56AM|#

Great- Geithner is on Capitol Hill spouting more platitudinous gibberish.

|6.18.09 @ 9:59AM|#

Las Vegas Review-Journal gets subpoena to reveal identities of anonymous commenters to a story about a tax fraud case

So when do we get to arrest and waterboard LoneWacko?

|6.18.09 @ 10:00AM|#

Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.

There are, really, only two possibilities:

The bonds are counterfeit, in which case someone other than the US Treasury is printing Dollars in boxcar lots. That, of course, would be inflationary and/or will reduce confidence in the US Dollar (both very bad).

The bonds are real. Who would have that kind of money? Only a head of state. That, of course, means, that the head of some country or other tried to set up a truly massive bug-out fund or "black" slush fund. Why does North Korea come to mind?

|6.18.09 @ 10:14AM|#

"The bonds are real. Who would have that kind of money? Only a head of state. That, of course, means, that the head of some country or other tried to set up a truly massive bug-out fund or "black" slush fund. Why does North Korea come to mind?"

North Korea would be a prime suspect, although that is a lot of money for an empoverished shithole like North Korea. My guess would be some Saudi Prince, or maybe some big ChiCom who has been skimming off the top for 20 years or so.

|6.18.09 @ 10:31AM|#

• Obama facing tough questions over his firing of Americorps inspector general, including from Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

"Providing material responsive to the above requests will represent an affirmative step toward fulfilling the President's commitment to create "an unprecedented level of openness in government," Issa wrote Monday in a letter to White House counsel Gregory Craig.

HaHaHaHaHaHa. Whew! Good one.

ed|6.18.09 @ 10:39AM|#

"How long before the secret police start sending out organizational tweets-
"We're massing at 7 p.m. at the Hall of the People for a march to the Hall of Justice!"
and busts everybody who shows up?

Czechoslovakia had their Velvet Revolution.
The Ukraine had an Orange Revolution.
Iran gets...a Twitter Revolution? That's tragically hilarious.

|6.18.09 @ 11:08AM|#

Well, maybe the left should be looking at some of their embarrassing crazies as well

GG|6.18.09 @ 11:18AM|#

When right-wing radio rants go wrong.

"I know history. I know economics. I know your mentors. I know what you're doing." What does this possibly mean?

He means the Cloward-Piven strategy, Conor. Duh.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by [criminal] stupidity."

|6.18.09 @ 11:27AM|#

Iran gets...a Twitter Revolution? That's tragically hilarious.

More like a cyber liberation. Still, I don't see how it's funny.

ed|6.18.09 @ 11:46AM|#

If Twitter brings down the mullahs, I'll eat an iPhone.

Invisible Finger|6.18.09 @ 12:09PM|#

In a proper republic, no one is entitled to a government job however long they want it.

|6.18.09 @ 12:09PM|#

Twitter does nothing; it's only a tool. But if the Iranians are going to liberate themselves, Twitter, and new media forms, can only help.

Of course all of this will land on deaf ears if you don't have an account, and especially if you haven't been following the protests and election aftermath with the tool in question.

It's all, "Ohhh, but what do I need to know what Mousavi is having for breakfast? I don't care! Twitter is so lame!"

Meanwhile, I've been communicating with Iranians from the streets of Tehran. I've seen hundreds of pictures, been linked to dozens of blogs, and have come to understand this situation in a way I never would have dreamed of even five years ago.

You should give it a chance. You might learn something.

Rice Bingham|6.18.09 @ 3:16PM|#

Obama facing tough questions over his firing of Americorps inspector general, including from Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)

I hope the answers get posted on you-tube. It could shake the very foundation of American politics. :)

|6.18.09 @ 8:41PM|#

Lonewacko references aside, that inspector general story is no laughing matter. Especially since there's a pattern emerging of firing IGs who make Obama supporters -- like Mayor Johnson of Sacramento, in this case -- uncomfortable, in contravention of a 2008 law that requires 30 days notice given to Congress before such firings.

ed|6.18.09 @ 9:29PM|#

if the Iranians are going to liberate themselves, Twitter, and new media forms, can only help

Maybe, Solana, but in the long run, philosophy always trumps technology.
I wish Iran well, but how did they come to be ruled by priests?
Twitter cannot rectify that fundamental flaw in the Iranian political culture.