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Yglesias

Bye, Bye Tenure?

By ThinkProgress on Jul 30, 2007 at 4:29 pm

I’m really curious as to what Stanley Kurtz could be thinking here about the need for “a serious campaign to eliminate academic tenure” starting with “a fairly conservative-leaning legislature, in a state with its own university system.” Suppose we started with Texas, a conservative state with a major public university. And suppose the University of Texas abolished tenure because National Review writers and the Texas state legislature wanted to subject Longhorn professors to more direct political supervision. What would happen?

Texas would just rapidly become a much, much worse university — one with huge problems recruiting faculty and students. Even your more talented conservative and conservative-sympathetic professors wouldn’t want to teach there. The school would rapidly become a backwater, and this would have potentially devastating effects on the local economy.

Politics

Inslee to introduce Gonzales impeachment tomorrow.

By Satyam Khanna on Jul 30, 2007 at 4:11 pm

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) is introducing legislation that would require the House Judiciary Committee and the House of Representatives to begin an impeachment investigation into Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in the wake of his damaging testimony last week. The legislation reads:

Resolved: That the Committee on the Judiciary shall investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to impeach Alberto Gonzales for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Watch it:

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/07/gonzales827.320.240.flv]

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Climate Progress

Report: Demand to Outpace Crude Supplies

By Joe Romm on Jul 30, 2007 at 3:35 pm

Here’s yet another report cautioning that conventional oil can’t meet projected demand. This one, Facing the Hard Truths About Energy, is from the National Petroleum Council, an advisory group to the Secretary of Energy chaired by Lee Raymond (!), retired CEO of Exxon Mobil.

The report wisely recommends: “Moderate the growing demand for energy by increasing efficiency of transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial uses.” But it unwisely calls for promoting liquefied coal and oil from tar sands, especially counterproductive from a report that actually acknowledges the future of growing carbon constraints.

Ah well, after five years working at the Energy Department in the 1990s, I can safely say that these reports typically are not very discriminating because they have members from all forms of energy. This one looks to be no exception.

Still, the warning that our current energy path is not sustainable is one policymakers need to hear:

It’s a hard truth that the global supply of oil and natural gas from the conventional sources relied upon historically is unlikely to meet projected 50 to 60 percent growth in demand over the next 25 years.

Let’s just hope policymakers are wise enough to forego dirty, unconventional sources of liquid fuel (especially liquid coal) and instead aggressively pursue efficiency, cellulosic ethanol, and plug-in hybrids.

Yglesias

If This Be Success

By ThinkProgress on Jul 30, 2007 at 3:29 pm

Robert Farley has much more on the Pollack/O’Hanlon op-ed, including some discussion of dodgy numbers. Meanwhile, though not intended as a direct riposte to the op-ed, this chart assembled by Nick Beaudrot and the associated discussion is worth checking out:

icasualties_2%201.png

Meanwhile, it’s worth noting the incentives that O’Hanlon and Pollack face. If they bow to reality and say the US should move rapidly to start cutting our losses in Iraq, then they’re people who advocated in favor of a disastrous policy and this’ll be bad for their careers. If, by contrast, they say the surge is looking good, and then work together with Bush administration officials and The Weekly Standard to construct a stab in the back narrative about Iraq, then they can hope to salvage their professional reputations at the expense of liberals.

(of course, haha, that’s to imply that the policy analysis put forward by Brookings Institution foreign policy program people might be influenced by crass careerism rather than Very Serious Expertise but that’s absurd, right, after all Very Serious People are above such things)

Politics

O’Hanlon Contradicts His Own Research To Portray Surge As Successful

By Guest Blogger on Jul 30, 2007 at 3:22 pm

In today’s New York Times, Brookings analysts Michael O’Hanlon and Ken Pollack argue that “the administration’s critics seem unaware of the significant changes taking place” as a result of the President’s surge strategy in Iraq.

Just last week — on July 26 — O’Hanlon published a starkly different assessment of the conditions in Iraq. In an updated edition of the Brookings Institute Iraq Index, he wrote:

With what promised to be a pivotal summer now more than half over, the situation in Iraq remains tenuous at best. …

[V]iolence nationwide has failed to improve measurably over the past 2-plus months, with a resilient enemy increasingly turning its focus to softer targets outside the scope of the surge. …

In assessing the overall sentiment of the Iraqi people recently, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker summed it up in one word: fear. …

Politically, there has yet to be significant progress in the legislation of any of the critical benchmark laws. …[I]t is difficult to see how any measurable political progress will take place before the all-important September update from Ambassador Crocker and commanding General David Petraeus.

Economically, “stagnation” continues to be the key word.

O’Hanlon’s most recent Iraq Index update conflicts with today’s op-ed in several other key areas:

CIVILIAN DEATH RATES

O’Hanlon: “Civilian fatality rates are down roughly a third since the surge began.”

Brookings Iraq Index, 7/26/2007:

civilian_deaths.gif

VIOLENCE ACROSS IRAQ

O’Hanlon: “[A]nother critical effect: no more whack-a-mole, with insurgents popping back up after the Americans leave.”

Brookings Iraq Index, 7/26/2007:

attacks.gif

WELL-BEING OF THE TROOPS Read more

Politics

No attack on Iran ‘this year.’

By Faiz Shakir on Jul 30, 2007 at 3:14 pm

“A well-informed source tells United Press International that according to senior U.S. intelligence officials, President Bush has definitely decided not to strike any of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons production facilities this year. The sources say the officials stressed the words ‘this year,’ meaning in 2007. That, however, does not rule out the possibility of military intervention in 2008, right until January 2009, when Bush’s term in the White House comes to an end.”

Climate Progress

Worried About the Weather, and the Land

By Joe Romm on Jul 30, 2007 at 2:45 pm

On its Sunday op-ed page, the New York Times ran four dispatches about the “rash of extreme weather around the world.” The articles show how “human activity” is having “drastic and lasting” impact globally:

The Great Swiss Meltdown: Swiss glaciers “have lost almost 50 percent of their surface area in the past 150 years; half of this loss has occurred in the last 30. Some 100 out of our nearly 2,000 glaciers have already disappeared, and researchers predict that most will have melted away by 2050.” What this may mean to the Swiss?

Sunny California: Sunny and dry this year. This is the weakest of the four articles — heck it doesn’t even mention wildfires.

Dining in a Drought in Australia: Australia, by contrast,”is suffering what some are calling its worst drought in 1000 years, and the impact on our farmers, livestock and produces catastrophic. Scientists have linked the six-year drought to the changing climate….”

Israel’s Incredible Shrinking Sea: The Dead Sea is dying.

Politics

Bye Bye Nico!

By ThinkProgress on Jul 30, 2007 at 2:38 pm

nico3.jpg ThinkProgress would like to bid a fond farewell to our dear friend and colleague, Nico Pitney. Nico has accepted a position with The Huffington Post, where he will serve as a politics editor.

Nico helped launch ThinkProgress in January 2005, and has been a dynamic, eloquent, and thoughtful contributor ever since. He inspired and taught us to become better bloggers, and the success of this site has reflected his tremendous guidance and leadership.

Please send your goodbye wishes to byebyenico@gmail.com. He’’d love to hear from you.

As a token of our appreciation, we’ve compiled some of our favorite blog posts authored by Nico over the years. Enjoy the trip down memory lane:

Report: In Meeting, ‘Wild-Eyed’ Bush’ Thumped Chest While Repeating ‘’I Am The President!’’ [Link]

Party Over Country: 25 Members Of Congress Who Criticized Escalation But Voted For It Anyway [Link]

Do We Really Need An Emperor Bush? [Link]

VIDEO COMPILATION: Fox News Devoted 12 Times More Coverage To Anna Nicole Than Walter Reed [Link]

Rep. Rohrabacher: Global Warming May Have Been Caused By ‘‘Dinosaur Flatulence’’ [Link]

REPORT: Bush Family Compound At Kennebunkport Could Be Submerged By Global Warming [Link]

Senate Multimillionares Vote To Block Minimum Wage Hike [Link]

The Katrina Timeline [Link]

Smears, Lies and Videotape: A Leak Scandal Documentary [Link]

Media Misleading Americans By Using ‘’Surge’’ To Describe Bush Policy [Link]

Congressman: ‘I Fear…We Will Have Many More Muslims In The United States’ [Link]

Malkin Doesn’’t Understand How Congress Works [Link]

““Bush Was Right!” –— The New Hit Single Ready to Rock a Generation [Link]

Fox News Pushing “Criminalization of Politics” Talking Point [Link]

Protest Turnout: A Picture’’s Worth a Thousand Lies [Link]

O’’Reilly: Easter Bunny Under Attack! [Link]

O’’Reilly Revives The War On Christmas [Link]

Engaging Iran [Link]

We’ll miss you Nico — you’ll always be a part of our team!

– Faiz, Amanda, Satyam, and Matt

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Politics

Iraq soccer captain: ‘I want America to go out.’

By Amanda Terkel on Jul 30, 2007 at 2:09 pm

Yesterday’s win of the Asian Cup for Iraq’s national soccer team was an “inspirational triumph for a team whose players straddle bitter and violent ethnic divides.” After the game yesterday, team captain Younis Mahmoud called for the United States to withdraw its troops:

younismm.jpg “I want America to go out,” he said. “Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn’t invade Iraq and, hopefully, it will be over soon.”

Mahmoud also said he will not return to Iraq to celebrate.

“I don’t want the Iraqi people to be angry with me,” he said. “If I go back with the team, anybody could kill me or try to hurt me.”

Media

No Substance for Me!

By ThinkProgress on Jul 30, 2007 at 1:48 pm

More whining about this same issue of the media and an inability to think about the issues. Adam Nagourney is talking about debates. He’s covered a lot of presidential debates. “And without exception, I have covered them the same way: Watching the proceedings on a television screen, and never mind that the candidates may be standing on a stage 30 feet away.” That’s because he sees his job as guessing how the exchange looked to voters at home (“the best way to report on a televised presidential debate is to write about what is shown on television . . .because that is how voters see it”) rather than to use his skills as a journalist to provide readers with additional context and information.

The most recent Democratic debate, though, “was written up for The Times, off television sets, byPatrick Healy in New York and Jeff Zeleny in Charleston” giving Nagourney an opportunity to do something other than play the role of amateur television critic. What did he do? Analysis of the issues? Research into the meaning of the Edwards-Obama exchange on health care mandates? Catch up on his favorite TV shows? Take a nap? Read a book? No! He, watched the debate live and in person. And what did he glean from this experience? A whole different set of trivial observations that even he refers to as “fluff.” You’ll be glad to learn, for example, that Hillary Clinton “DID stand out in that sea of dark suits wearing that (sorry) eye-catching coral jacket.” Fascinating.

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