Long live the Bush tax cuts!

Just so we're clear: Democrats, currently in charge of Cong and WH, are about to ratify single defining domestic policy of W.

Christopher Hayes, via twitter.com

I'm not going to say there's no difference between the Obama Administration and the Bush Administration, it terms of the policies that have come from each. We did get (flawed) health care reform, after all. But the differences aren't really big enough -- not in terms of hopes of dreams, but in terms of what actually is accomplished -- to merit much celebration by people who supported Obama in 2008.

Yale study: Gay teens punished more often at school

Gay and lesbian teens in the United States are about 40 percent more likely than their straight peers to be punished by schools, police and the courts, according to a study published Monday, which finds that girls are especially at risk for unequal treatment.

The research, described as the first national look at sexual orientation and teen punishment, comes as a spate of high-profile bullying and suicide cases across the country have focused attention on the sometimes hidden cruelties of teen life.

The study, from Yale University, adds another layer, finding substantial disparities between gay and straight teens in school expulsions, arrests, convictions and police stops. The harsher approach is not explained by differences in misconduct, the study says.

via washingtonpost.com

Depressing.

Afghanistan quagmire watch

Afghans are more pessimistic about the direction of their country, less confident in the ability of the United States and its allies to provide security and more willing to negotiate with the Taliban than they were a year ago, according to a new poll conducted in all of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

But residents of two key southern provinces that have been the focus of U.S. military operations over the past year say aspects of their security and living conditions have improved significantly since last December.

The new poll - conducted by The Washington Post, ABC News, the British Broadcasting Corp. and ARD television of Germany - found a particularly notable shift in public opinion in Helmand province, where Marines have been conducting intensive counterinsurgency operations. The number of people in Helmand describing their security as "good" jumped from 14 percent in a December 2009 poll to 67 percent now. Nearly two-thirds of Helmand residents now say Afghanistan is on the right track.

via washingtonpost.com

Lots of stuff here for people on both sides of the U.S. political divide to use to advance their cases. For me it's telling that most Afghans A) want to see a political deal with the Taliban and B) want to see the U.S. and NATO start to leave.

How the recession is killing radio culture

But as colleges across the country look for ways to tighten budgets amid recession-induced shortfalls, some administrators — most recently in the South — have focused on college radio, leading even well-endowed universities to sell off their FM stations. That trend was felt this summer at Rice and Vanderbilt, among the most prominent of Southern universities, stirring debate about the viability of broadcast radio, the reach of online broadcasting and the value of student broadcast programming.

“We play music that you won’t find on any other Houston radio station” said Joey Yang, a junior at Rice and station manager for KTRU. “KTRU’s mission is to broadcast exactly what you can’t find elsewhere on the dial.”

via nytimes.com

Lots of places around the country where college radio is the only -- or the best -- music alternative to the heavily formatted playlists of corporate-owned stations. (The exceptions tend to be in really big cities like Seattle or New York. Even in Philadelphia, Drexel's WKDU gives the local stations a run for their money, and we have WXPN here.) In that sense, those stations don't offer great training for the post-college world -- hey DJs, you're never going to have this much freedom again! But the rest of us would be immeasurably poorer without their work.

Bad sign for the New York Times?

The "Letter From Washington" has long been a staple of the Monday New York Times. It's usually a step back for a little perspective -- or perhaps even just a bit of lighthearted observation -- on a big issue facing the capital, written by one of the paper's correspondents. This week, though, it's a reprint of a nationally distributed column from Bloomberg News, one that can be found in papers and websites around the world. It's unusual the Times would use wire copy for a standing feature, or so it seems to me. I hope this isn't a sign that layoffs and financial problems are starting to take a real toll on the journalism the paper delivers. 

Wikileaks on Iraq's Neighbors

The Iranians, who waged a bloody eight-year war with Mr. Hussein, have no desire to see a strong Iraq emerge from the ashes of his regime, especially one that has ties with the United States.

So they have sought to influence its politics by funneling cash to Iraqi political factions, ordering assassinations and shipping arms to militants, some of which an Oct. 23, 2008, cable from Dubai warned might be disguised as medical supplies. The Saudis, who see Iran as the chief threat in the region, have used their satellite television stations and deep pockets to support Sunni groups. Syria, which Iraqi leaders have repeatedly complained to American diplomats is dominated by a Baathist regime sympathetic to the ousted Baathists in Iraq, has allowed insurgent fighters to sneak into Iraq. Even Turkey, which has good relations with the Iraqi government, has secretly financed nationalist and anti-Kurdish Sunni political parties.

via nytimes.com

This shouldn't be a surprise. Before the United States invaded Iraq, I'm not sure the general public that supported the invasion gave much to Iraq's context in the region's politics. Or, to the extent they did, they A) got mad at Turkey for not letting us use their territory as an invasion route and B) hoped the example of knocking over Saddam Hussein would scare other regimes into line.

It didn't work that way. We Americans aren't very good at understanding politics on the other side of the world, didn't really grasp how Iraq's neighbors might use our actions to try to strengthen themselves -- or, at least, forestall a similar reckoning by the United States. On domestic policy, conservatives are quite good (and even quite smart) about recognizing the "unintended consequences" of laws designed to make our lives better and safer. On foreign policy, though, many -- Bill Kristol being, perhaps, the most prominent example -- seem to assume the world will fall into place via overwhelming force and fiat of the United States. It's a good deal more complicated than that, and I expect we'll be dealing with the fallout from this for the rest of our lives.

Deal close on Bush tax cuts

What Kevin Drum said:

If they've finally backed themselves into a corner where they're forced to extend all the Bush tax cuts, then OK. I'm resigned to it. But they're seriously planning to extend the tax cuts for two years, even though that means restarting the fight during the 2012 campaign season, "because they see it as politically helpful to them in painting Republicans as defenders of the rich"?

And they think this why? Because they all stuck together so well this time around? Because they wowed the American public in 2010 with their argument that Republicans were defenders of the rich? Because two years from now centrists and Blue Dogs will suddenly decide to grow a spine in the face of tea party competition? Because they think Republicans will cower in fear and Fox News will suddenly embrace sweet reason the next time Democrats try this tack? Because they think that vilifying the rich only failed this year because it was so soon after an epic financial meltdown caused by the rich?