Obama says he “won’t compromise” on taxes

The president spoke about the "fiscal cliff" in Michigan 
By Ben Feller, AP
 

REDFORD, Mich. (AP) — President Barack Obama says he “won’t compromise” on his demands that the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes.

However, Obama held back from directly criticizing Republicans for opposing his tax plans, perhaps signaling that private negotiations over the “fiscal cliff” are showing progress. Obama and Boehner met privately at the White House Sunday.

Obama traveled to Michigan Monday to try to rally public support for his proposals to raise rates on the top 2 percent of income earners. Speaking to auto workers, he said he was willing to support “tough spending cuts” as long as those cuts do not disproportionately hurt the middle class.

Source: Salon

4 Ways Obama Might Win the Debt Ceiling Brawl

—By Kevin Drum

What happens after we get a deal on the fiscal cliff? If Republicans are to be believed, we'll just sail right into a second crisis, this time over raising the debt ceiling. They're insisting that, once again, they'll refuse to raise the ceiling unless President Obama agrees to massive spending cuts.

We'll see. But it's worth pondering what Obama's options are for simply ignoring the debt ceiling and continuing to spend money regardless of whether Republicans agree to raise it. Several theories have been floating around since the first debt ceiling crisis last year. Here they are:

• The 14th Amendment: Under this theory, the president would simply invoke the 14th Amendment, which says, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law […] shall not be questioned." Bill Clinton thinks this would work, but it strikes me as unlikely. Even if the debt ceiling isn't raised, the public debt is still valid and the Treasury can continue to pay it. Lots of other spending would have to be cut, but not debt payments.


• The platinum coin: There's an obscure statute that authorizes the Treasury to mint platinum coins "in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time." Jack Balkin suggests that the secretary of the Treasury could simply mint a $1 trillion platinum coin, deposit it at the Federal Reserve, and then write checks on it. I don't buy this one either. It's just too outré. It's the kind of thing that sounds cute to a blogger tapping away on his laptop, but there's no way an actual president would ever try anything so obviously childish.


• Priority of legislation: In general, recent legislation overrides older legislation when there's a conflict. The president could argue that the last debt ceiling increase was passed in August 2011, and that any spending legislation passed since then implies Congress' consent to raise the debt ceiling. They knew we were running a deficit when they approved the spending, after all. Obama would just have to make sure to fund mandatory programs first (Social Security, Medicare, etc.), since they were authorized decades ago, and then issue new debt only to fund discretionary spending.


• You and whose army? This is the most important argument of all. Regardless of the legal justification, the real question is whether a court would interfere. Many people think the filibuster is unconstitutional, for example, but everyone agrees that it doesn't matter because no court will ever touch the subject. It's an internal matter for Congress to decide. This is similar: the debt ceiling is a political argument between two branches of government, not a legal one. Jonathan Zasloff adds a little meat to this argument, suggesting that there's literally no one with proper standing to sue in the first place.

During the last debt ceiling fight, Obama never suggested he'd resort to unilateral action like this. Partly that's because he genuinely wanted to make a "grand bargain" on spending, and the debt ceiling fight was pretty good political cover for that. This time he doesn't, so he might be more likely to try it. However, one interesting question about this is whether he's ever asked the Office of Legal Counsel for an opinion about any of these theories. If he has, and it was negative, that would probably restrain him. If he hasn't, he'd probably need to in order to maintain his credibility on the issue. That's a risk, of course, since there's no telling what OLC's lawyers would come up with. There's a political risk too: Congressional Republicans could go ballistic and become even more obstreperous than they are now. Fun times.

UPDATE: Via Twitter, Brian Beutler reminds me that OLC has given guidance to Obama on the 14th Amendment question. We just don't know what they said. However, given Obama's comments at the time, they probably told him no dice.

UPDATE 2: Several people have pushed back on my dismissal of the platinum coin ploy. I'm not a lawyer, but my sense is that this is so wildly contrary to the intent of the law, which was to allow the Treasury to issue commemorative and bullion coins, that a court probably would intervene if the president tried to pull this off. The other ploys are at at least minimally plausible, but this one is banana republic territory.

UPDATE 3: For what it's worth, I agree that the president's best option is to simply start shutting down chunks of the government if Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans seem to have convinced themselves that the lessons of 1995 no longer apply, but I think they do. This would be a PR disaster for them. They'd cave before long.
The thing they don't understand is that Obama wasn't playing hardball in 2011. He actually wanted a deal, and they were nuts not to take him up on it. This time he doesn't, and he has the power and the credibility to make sure that Republicans take the blame when national parks get closed and passports stop getting issued.

Source: Mother Jones

The Hidden Genocide

This is the story of a people fleeing the land where they were born - the Muslim Rohingya of Myanmar. 

 

Source: Al Jazeera 

Earlier this year a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered in western Myanmar. The authorities charged three Muslim men.

A week later, 10 Muslims were murdered in a revenge attack. What happened next was hidden from the outside world.

Bloodshed pitted Buddhists against minority Rohingya Muslims. Many Rohingya fled their homes, which were burned down in what they said was a deliberate attempt by the predominantly Buddhist government to drive them out of the country.
"They were shooting and we were also fighting. The fields were filled with bodies and soaked with blood," says Mohammed Islam, who fled with his family to Bangladesh.
There are 400,000 Rohingya languishing in Bangladesh. For more than three decades, waves of refugees have fled Myanmar. But the government of Bangladesh considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants, as does the government of Myanmar. They have no legal rights and nowhere to go.

This is a story of a people fleeing the land where they were born, of a people deprived of citizenship in their homeland. It is the story of the Rohingya of western Myanmar, whose very existence as a people is denied.
Professor William Schabas, the former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, says: "When you see measures preventing births, trying to deny the identity of the people, hoping to see that they really are eventually, that they no longer exist; denying their history, denying the legitimacy of their right to live where they live, these are all warning signs that mean it's not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide."

President Obama Speaks at Christmas in Washington (video/Transcipt)

THE PRESIDENT:  Good evening, everybody, and let’s give it up for our host –- the tallest elf I’ve ever seen –- Conan O’Brien.  (Laughter and applause.)  We’re also grateful to all the outstanding performers, the choirs, the glee clubs who are sharing their tremendous talents with us.

Tonight is a chance to get in the Christmas spirit; to spread some joy and sing along with artists who have much better voices than we do.  (Laughter.)  But it’s also a chance to make a real difference in the lives of some very brave young people being treated at Children’s National Medical Center.  Many of these kids and their parents are going through tough times right now, and your support helps give them a reason to hope –- not just during the holidays, but all year round.

And that’s really what Christmas is all about.  Each of us is incredibly blessed in so many ways.  But those blessings aren’t just meant to be enjoyed -- they’re meant to be used and shared with those who have less.  The Christian faith teaches us that on this day a child was born so that we might have eternal life.  And at the heart of many of the world’s great religions is the idea that we’re all better off when we treat our brothers and sisters with the same love and compassion that we want for ourselves.

So yes, tonight is about Conan and Diana Ross and Santa and all the other talented folks on this stage.  But it’s also about the Americans who are spending this holiday in a hospital bed, or a shelter, or protecting our freedom on a battlefield far from home.  Let’s keep them in our prayers, and follow Christ’s calling to love one another as He has loved all of us.
Merry Christmas, everybody.  God bless you, and God bless these United States of America.

President Barack Obama Weekly Address, December 08, 2012 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address The White House December 8, 2012

Hello, everybody.  Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about deadlines we’re facing on jobs and taxes and investments.  But with so much noise and so many opinions flying around, it can be easy to lose sight of what this debate is really about.  It’s not about which political party comes out on top, or who wins or loses in Washington.  It’s about making smart decisions that will have a real impact on your lives and the lives of Americans all across the country.

Right now, middle-class tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year.  Time is running out.  And there are two things that can happen.

First, if Congress does nothing, every family in America will see their income taxes automatically go up on January 1^st.  A typical middle-class family of four would get a $2,200 tax hike.  That would be bad for families, it would be bad for businesses, and it would drag down our entire economy.

Now, Congress can avoid all this by passing a law that prevents a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody’s income.  That means 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses wouldn’t see their income taxes go up by a single dime.  Even the wealthiest Americans would get a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income.  And families everywhere would enjoy some peace of mind. 

The Senate has already done their part.  Now we’re just waiting for Republicans in the House to do the same thing.  But so far, they’ve put forward an unbalanced plan that actually lowers rates for the wealthiest Americans.  If we want to protect the middle class, then the math just doesn’t work.

We can and should do more than just extend middle class tax cuts.  I stand ready to work with Republicans on a plan that spurs economic growth, creates jobs and reduces our deficit – a plan that gives both sides some of what they want.  I’m willing to find ways to bring down the cost of health care without hurting seniors and other Americans who depend on it.  And I’m willing to make more entitlement spending cuts on top of the $1 trillion dollars in cuts I signed into law last year. 

But if we’re serious about reducing our deficit while still investing in things like education and research that are important to growing our economy – and if we’re serious about protecting middle-class families – then we’re also going to have to ask the wealthiest Americans to pay higher tax rates.  That’s one principle I won’t compromise on

After all, this was a central question in the election.  A clear majority of Americans – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – agreed with a balanced approach that asks something from everyone, but a little more from those who can most afford it.  It’s the only way to put our economy on a sustainable path without asking even more from the middle class.  And it’s the only kind of plan I’m willing to sign.

Everyone agrees we need to bring down our deficit and strengthen our economy for the long-term.  The question is whether we can do it in a responsible way that allows us to keep investing in the things that have always made America strong.  I’m convinced we can.  And if both sides are willing to compromise, I believe we can give businesses and families a sense of security going into the New Year.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

THE CITY JERUSALEM

Original published in the Newsweek December 10, 2012 edition.

Sayed Hashua on sadness and sin in the Holy Land.

“How can you live in that city?”my friends, both Jews and Arabs ask me, They’re right.  Jerusalem has always been tough, and it’s been getting more and more religious, extremist, and racist over the years.

As I wrote these words in May, I asked myself the same question. It was the morning of Jerusalem Day, when Israel celebrates its completion of the city’s occupation: the annexing of the Old City and East Jerusalem. The radio newscaster talks of large scale police deployment throughout the city and right wing Knesset members planning to visit the Temple Mount. Soon the main roads will be blocked and the parades will start. People will give speeches about unified Jerusalem, the Jewish people’s eternal capital. The Jews will have their “flag dance” and enter the Old City, where they’ll celebrate victory by singing and dancing , and the Temple Mount Loyalists will try, as they do every year, to ascend the mount with a model of the Third Temple. The Arabs will watch the goings-on from their windows, biting their tongues in profound sorrow. They can do nothing in face of the right-wingers’ defiance.  They lost the war, and they are still losing. Today they will shut themselves behind heavy wooden doors, concealing a life of suffering that does not interest the flag dancers. The revelers don’t want to read the study stating that 84 percent of Arabs children in Jerusalem live beneath the poverty line.

I’ve never told my friends the real reason why I stay here. They wouldn’t understand. Who would believe me if I said I live here because the holy city has always been, for me, the city of sin? Who would believe me if I swore I can’t even have a drink anywhere else?

I arrived in Jerusalem 20 years ago, as a 115-year-old boy, when my parents sent me to s Jewish boarding school in West Jerusalem. I hated the city as soon as I entered it. On my first bus ride, a soldier got on and immediately pegged me as Arab: a boy leaving his village for the first time, with Arab’s clothes, an Arab’s thin moustache, and most tellingly frightened look of an Arab. That was the first time I was taken off the bus and searched. It took me a while to blur my external identity. I gradually gained command of Hebrew. I learned from my classmates what to wear so as not seem suspicious, and I shaved off my mustache and grew my hair long. When I felt ready, I started to leave the boarding school and go out around town. In Jerusalem I discovered cafés, record shops, bookstores, none of which could be found – and still can’t – where I was born in Kfar Tira. I was a young boy, and I started doing the things I’d always been warned against. I found the backstreet pubs and started drinking.

It’s been two decades since then, and I still roam the city. I’ve learned to recognize not only the mosques and churches, but also people’s looks. I can tell by the way someone looks at me if they are Arabs or Jewish. I can tell who has lost hope and who still believes. Arabs my age are no longer capable of even dreaming of a better future for this city. They cannot imagine a liberated Jerusalem, a Jerusalem of peace, a Jerusalem that would make then independent. Entire generations in East Jerusalem merely pray for things not to get worse. But they get worse, with every government decision to build another Jewish enclave in East Jerusalem, and every group of settlers planning the next “City of David” in another Arab neighborhood.

Sometimes it seems as if East Jerusalemites need the occupation – they cannot imagine their lives without it, they’re addicted to it, resigned to the oppression and afraid of becoming purposeless if it suddenly disappears. Sometimes it seems that a whole generation wants to be controlled by their master more than the master needs his slaves. Israel has taught East Jerusalem residents to dream only of their National Insurance stipend, captives of their state allowances. It has taught them to be thankful for being allowed to sweep the street and wash dishes in the restaurants. It has taught them to be grateful for still being allowed to work inside Israel, unlike their brothers on the West Bank.

East Jerusalem is growing weak and isolated. The only glimmer of hope can be seen, occasionally, in the eyes of small children. Because of all this, I have little choice but to get drunk.  And as I’ve mentioned, I can’t get drunk anywhere other than Jerusalem. Because if you’re going to sin, you might as well do it as close as possible to where God resides.

Sayed Kashua writes a column for Haaretz and is author of three novels. This article was translated from Hebrew by Jessica Cohon. Editor’s note: This essay is the first in two-part series on Jerusalem, featuring one article by an Arab citizen of Israel followed next week with an assay be a Jewish citizen of Israel.

President Obama Lights the National Christmas Tree (video/transcript)

 

THE PRESIDENT:  Merry Christmas, everybody!  (Applause.)   Michelle told me to be brief because she wants to hear music.  (Laughter.)

Thank you, Secretary Salazar, for that generous introduction and for your dedication to protecting our natural resources.  I want to thank Neil Mulholland and the whole National Park Foundation and the National Park Service team for helping to put on this beautiful production.

Let’s give a big hand to Neil Patrick Harris -- (applause) -- and this evening’s performers for putting on a fantastic show.  And I want to also thank all of you for joining us to celebrate this great American tradition.

As has been mentioned, we’ve been lighting the National Christmas Tree for 90 years now.  In times of war and peace, triumph and tragedy, we’ve always come together to rejoice in the Christmas miracle.  But our tree has been having a hard time recently -- this is our third one in as many years.  Our longstanding tree was lost in a storm, and then its replacement didn’t take hold.  It just goes to show, nobody’s job is safe here in Washington.  (Laughter.)  But I feel good about this one.  It was planted just days before Hurricane Sandy, and it made it through the storm in one piece.

Now, we know that some of our neighbors to the north saw a more ruthless and destructive Sandy.  And this holiday season is especially difficult for families who lost everything in the storm.  But it’s also a time for us to be grateful for the heroism and perseverance of ordinary men and women in the storm’s path who’ve showed us that Americans will always be stronger than the challenges that we face.  And as I did before Thanksgiving, I can’t help but tell a story of their enduring holiday spirit.

This evening, in Midland Beach, New York, on a street lined with houses and businesses devastated by the storm, a great big Christmas tree shines out of the darkness.  Just a couple of weeks ago, as impacted families were still seeking some sense of getting back to normal, one local nursery donated the tree, another chipped in for the lights and a star, and 70-year-old Tom Killeen and his longtime buddies from the area planted it at the end of the street, overlooking the town beach.  As Tom says, the tree has one message: “It’s Christmas time, not disaster time.”

And Tom is right.  For centuries, the message of Christmas -- of peace and goodwill to all -- has guided millions of people around the world through good times but also through bad times.  This year is no different.  It’s a chance for all of us to open our hearts to the least fortunate among us.  It’s a chance to remember what Christ taught us -- that it is truly more blessed to give than to receive, and that the simplest gifts bring the greatest joy.  And it’s a chance to count our blessings and give thanks to those outstanding service members who bravely defend them.

For Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs, may this holiday season remind us of the spirit of brotherhood and generosity that unites us as citizens.  And may every tree from Midland Beach to this Ellipse and all across the country shine as a beacon of hope for all Americans.
So on behalf of Michelle, Malia, Sasha, Grandma and Bo, I’d like to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and joyful holiday season.

God bless you, and God bless America.  (Applause.)

(Christmas carols are sung.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, everybody, I just want to say, can we give a huge round of applause to these outstanding performers?  (Applause.)  To our outstanding choir.  (Applause.)

Neil, are we going out with a song?

MR. HARRIS:  Sure, let’s sing one.  You start it.

THE PRESIDENT:  No, no, no -- (laughter) -- I just wasn’t sure.  I know this program is taped so we can always edit this out.  (Laughter.)  Was there something else that we were supposed to be singing?  Santa Clause Is Coming To Town -- that's what I thought.  Let’s hit it!

(Everyone sings “Santa Clause Is Coming To Town.)