I don't plan to write about the 9/11 anniversary. It's totally over-hyped, just like the anniversaries of the OKC bombing and every other disaster. Enough already. The media can milk the public without help from me. While I could counter the media coverage with posts about the many injustices in the last decade resulting from our war on terror, which has not made us safer, only less free, instead I'll just post great performances from the concerts relating to 9/11 -- especially those with a current relevant message.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

From the New York Times: Business owners say Obama's jobs plan won't cause them to hire new workers.

That sentiment was echoed across numerous industries by executives in companies big and small on Friday, underscoring the challenge for the Obama administration as it tries to encourage hiring and perk up the moribund economy.

The stock market fell big time yesterday, wiping out all gains for the week. Guess Wall St. wasn't impressed either.[More...]

The trial of accused "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will begin in October. Next week, potential jurors will begin filling out questionnaires. Abdulmutallab is representing himself, with the assistance of standby counsel Anthony Chambers.

Here's what's happened in the case recently: Abdulmutallab filed motions to suppress his statements made during interrogations at the University of Michigan Hospital and Milan Correctional Center. The Government responded it won't seek to introduce his statements made while detained at Milan. As to the hospital statements, Abdulmutallab argues the statements were not voluntary because he had been administered Fetanyl for pain and that the public safety exception did not apply because the agents asked so many questions that had nothing to do with any emergency: [More...]

Via Atrios, Fred Hiatt proves he is same as he ever was - dumb as a bag of hammers. On the last 10 years, Hiatt's WaPo says "Given the scope of the challenge, the country should give itself some credit for what it has achieved." Really. That's what he wrote.

These are the "elites" that will lead us out of our economic troubles? On the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, we remain well and truly f*cked as a Nation.

Never forget . . . except how the elites have blown up the world.

Speaking for me only

The 9/11 Concert for New York City was one of the best concerts ever. It also raised over $35 million. VH-1 will be replaying it on 9/11 from 4 to 10 pm and streaming it on the internet at the same time.

Here's a great 8 minute performance of "Little Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp, joined by Kid Rock around the 6 minute mark. Also don't miss the incredible violinist, particularly around the 5 minute mark. Really stellar.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The intelligence bulletin sent out today about the NY-Washington terror threat didn't reveal much: A possible car bomb at a bridge or tunnel, related to 9/11.

Listening to CNN on Sirius on the way home from work, here's what I learned from Homeland Security Committee Chair Joe Lieberman: It started with a wiretap involving someone whose information had previously proved reliable. But this tip from the wire, while it involved that person, didn't come from that person's conversation. In other words, it wasn't something he said on a wire, it may have been something someone else said who was picked up on his wire.

But another "source" tells Fox News, it was the reliable source who provided the information. "The person who provided the intelligence is known to the U.S. intelligence community and "has a track record," one source said." So Lieberman says they got it through him and another source says he provided it directly. Which is it? If it's the first, why is it credible? [More...]

Obama will be the proverbial Rolling Stone in 2012 if he keeps on his current path. Seniors will throw him under the bus.

How does it feel?
To be on your own?
With no direction home?
...Like a rolling stone ?

Here's another report finding that raising Medicare's eligibility age won't money or cut health care costs. It will just shift the cost to seniors, states and employers. The full report is here.

Raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67, which the new Joint Select Committee will likely consider this fall as a deficit-reduction measure, would not only fail to constrain health care costs across the economy; it would increase them.

While this proposal would save the federal government money, it would do so by shifting costs to most of the 65- and 66-year-olds who would lose Medicare coverage, to employers that provide health coverage for their retirees, to Medicare beneficiaries, to younger people who buy insurance through the new health insurance exchanges, and to states.

The report is based on the Kaiser Report I've cited previously: [More....]

Here's President Obama just after he was elected in 2009, promising "reform" of both Medicare and Social Security.

President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare "bargain" with the American people, saying that the nation's long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs.

..."What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further," he said. "We have to signal seriousness in this by making sure some of the hard decisions are made under my watch, not someone else's."

.... "Social Security, we can solve," he said, waving his left hand. "The big problem is Medicare, which is unsustainable. . . . We can't solve Medicare in isolation from the broader problems of the health-care system."

[More....]

I'm finally learning the meaning of hope and change. Three years ago, hope and change seemed like a slogan to roll your eyes at. No more. Now it's becoming something to strive for. But it's not the hope and change Obama can bring us, he's already failed that test. It's the hope for change we have at the thought of him leaving and taking his ineffective administration with him.

Onto last night's speech. Obama is so transparent. His speech was all about construction workers, teachers, and veterans, and instilling fear of China and South Korea, because they are out to take our jobs. He went for the "heartland." As if all he has to do is proclaim South Koreans should be driving Fords and it will be so.

More importantly, as always, his plan leaves those on the fringe out to dry. And that includes seniors (who according to Obama are causing the health care system to implode by their sheer numbers), those who don't own businesses, and those who need affordable health care more than they need a $1,500 tax break. [More...]

ABC News skipped the analysis after President Obama's speech to cover an unconfirmed but specific terror threat from an outside country connected to 9/11. The target may be Washington or New York. The threat came in Wednesday night. Obama was briefed today.

CBS is covering the speech. NBC went to football.

President Obama has unveiled his $447 billion jobs proposal

President Obama is now speaking. "It's an urgent time." Live blog follows:

Having to watch Boehner behind him ruins it from the outset. Obama says something speechy and gets a standing ovation.

He's sending Congress the American Jobs Act. There's nothing controversial about it. Everything in it will be paid for. Everything. It will create more jobs teachers, construction workers.

It will cut payroll taxes in half for every worker and every small business. It will provide a jolt or a stalled economy. You should pass this jobs plan right away.[More..]

Both BTD and I are busy at work.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The SuperCommittee Henchmen meet today. Raising medicare eligibility to age 67 is on the table for discussions. The Democrats have submitted a memo with various proposed changes and a discussion of each. Here's the memo. Raising the eligibility age appears on page 7.

President Obama proposed raising the Medicare eligibility age as part of the debt-ceiling agreement, but Democrats are hardly united behind the policy.

The Democrats note that it's not going to be a money saver -- it's just going to shift who pays the money. They give the same reasons I gave last month. [More...]

Sorry for being AWOL. Busy. And will be busy for the next few days as well.

Open Thread.