A lionfish among glassfish in Egypt's Red Sea. From National Geographic.
Gregg, GOP Ready to Get Behind START from the National Journal
"With a tax deal imminent, some Republicans say that it's time to get behind the New START pact."
The Truth About China's GDP (Caitlin Dickson) from the Atlantic
"Li Keqiang, a senior Chinese official and rumored front runner for the prime minister's chair, is quoted in the cable as having referred to the country's GDP numbers as "man-made" and "therefore unreliable." The Telegraph reports that "Chinese officials have repeatedly been found to have artificially inflated their local GDP figures in order to win face and hit their targets,""
HERE's the original story from the Telegraph of the UK.
This is quite an interesting story -- how much of the "China as coming economic giant" story is inflated rhetoric? As Thomas Friedman has noted, the "electronic herd" has a way of paying countries back for just this kind of duplicity. What else have they been lying about?
A Sound Trade Deal with South Korea from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"There are compelling reasons why Congress should approve a free trade agreement with South Korea. Here are two: South Korea is the 12th largest economy in the world and it is a strategic ally of the United States in a very dangerous neighborhood."
Everything You Need to Know About the Bush Tax Cut Deal (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"...an actual, negotiated deal, in which the two parties sit in a room and give things up, and compromise on positions they'd taken in public, and walk out with a deal that accomplishes more than was strictly necessary? I didn't see that one coming. The deal has something to annoy everyone -- but also something for everyone."
No Deficit of Courage (Jon Meacham) from the New York Times
"In the same way that Mr. Obama struck his deal to secure lower tax rates for the middle-class and win an extension of unemployment benefits, Mr. Bush gave on tax rates to get “pay as you go” rules — meaning that no further spending could be approved without compensating budget cuts or revenue increases. It was the beginning of the fiscal discipline that helped create the budget surpluses of the 1990s. While Mr. Obama’s immediate concern is stimulus and Mr. Bush’s was deficit-reduction, both gave way on issues critical to the true believers within their parties."
The Tax-Cut Deal is Actually a Win for Democrats (Jonathan Bernstein) from the New Republic
"Oh, it’s clear that Barack Obama and the Democrats are making a trade they didn’t want, and in that sense are losing. But they’re winning something, too. Actually, the best way to think of this is in the context of a post that Klein wrote (if I recall correctly) last spring, in which he noted that Republicans could have had whatever they wanted on health care in exchange for their votes."
Actually It's a Pretty Good Deal… (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"The compromise, in other words, gives Obama a chance to take further action to boost the economy and bring unemployment down -- and the more he can do that, the better his chances (and his party's chances) will be in 2012."
A Second Stimulus (David Leonhardt) from the New York Times
"The apparent deal over the Bush tax cuts highlights why the Democrats probably had to accept the extension of all the Bush tax cuts. No politician is likely to use this word — at least no Democratic politician — but the deal amounts to a second stimulus bill."
Obama: President; McConnell: Sucker (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic
"Notice something about all of this? They all now realize that Obama has been a little shrewder than they took him to be."
The Deal Breakers: Democrats Should Embrace Obama's Compromise from the Editorial Board of the Chicago Tribune
"It also seems to have escaped them that under the circumstances, the president did a better-than-expected job of advancing Democratic priorities in a climate that is anything but hospitable. If their own economic theories are correct, he also improved his party's chances of rebounding in 2012."
While the Trib editorial board is ideologically to the right, what it says matters given that I think that (as with the Dems) GOP lawmakers are going to raise their own stink about this deal.
The Anger of Barack Obama (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"Faced with increasing criticism from liberals over his decision to compromise with Republicans on a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, Obama openly chastised the party's base -- warning them of being "sanctimonious" and reminding them that "this country was founded on compromise"."
Obama Tax Deal Should be Supported (Simon Rosenberg) from NDN
...my initial take is that he got more than he is being credited for, and the GOP was exposed as having a very weak economic hand which spells trouble for them in the consequential economic debates to come."
WikiLeaks and Assange Pretend There are No Consequences (John Kass) from the Chicago Tribune
"Though I'm a First Amendment absolutist, I wouldn't have published those stolen U.S. State Department cables. Still, he and others have the right to publish the news. But Assange — or the newspapers that published the documents — don't have the right to pretend there are no real consequences."
British Court Denies Bail to Assange in Sex Inquiry from the Guardian [of the UK]
"In a hearing that lasted just under an hour, Mr. Assange said he would fight extradition. But despite the presence in court of several prominent people ready to vouch for him, he was called a flight risk and ordered to remain in custody until a further court session on Dec. 14. His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters Mr. Assange would appeal the denial of bail."
Legal Tangle Tightens Around Wikileaks, Julian Assange from the PBS Newshour
"The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is just one of the many problems he and his secrets-exposing website now face as the U.S. explores possible prosecution on espionage charges. Gwen Ifill talks to Jeffrey Smith, former CIA general counsel, and Abbe Lowell, who has defended clients on espionage charges."
Why Julian Assange Is No Daniel Ellsberg (Todd Gitlin) from the New Republic
"Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers was a great democratic act that helped clarify for the American public how its leaders had misled it for years, to the immense detriment of the nation’s honor. By contrast, Wikileaks’s huge data dump, including the names of agents and recent diplomatic cables, is indiscriminate. Assange slashes and burns with impunity."
The Dark Side of the Web (Margaret Wente) from the Globe and Mail [of Toronto]
"Julian Assange has all the makings of a 21st-century folk hero. He has single-handedly humiliated a great power by exposing its dark secrets and hypocrisies…. There’s just one problem with this heroic picture. Julian Assange has made the world a far more dangerous place."
The Strange Justifications of Wikileaks' Julian Assange (Trish Durkin) from The Week
"No matter what he says, he is not about exposing the abuse of power. He is about thwarting the exercise of power ."
Don't Primary Obama, Change Congress (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"I think pondering a primary challenge to Obama is suicidal, and reflects a certain fecklessness on the left."
Five Reasons Sarah Palin Will Run (Matt Latimer) from the Daily Beast
"Her poll numbers are off, and some GOP bigwigs have come out against her. But Sarah Palin's fan base could care less. Matt Latimer on what her followers see in her."
CAREER NUGGET!!
Thirteen Great Careers for College Grads from the Huffington Post
"All of the jobs listed have above-average median annual pay rates, and all are expected to experience above-average growth between 2008 and 2018. Jobs that are expected to have few openings in the coming year were not included."
US News and World Report has their own Top-50 List HERE.
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