Tampa police: Marine reservist used crowbar to attack Greek priest he mistook for terrorist

This story is disgusting. And of course, the pig didn't just attack the priest with a crowbar, he's now alleging that the man was was a gay Arab terrorist who tried to sexually assault him before he was going to blow him up. And we can thank all the hysterical people who decided in advance that Ft. Hood was a Muslim terrorist attack (and I mean you, Joe Lieberman). You create hysteria, and this is what people do. Read the rest of this post...

The Nation: US funding the Taliban

Oops.

In this grotesque carnival, the US military's contractors are forced to pay suspected insurgents to protect American supply routes. It is an accepted fact of the military logistics operation in Afghanistan that the US government funds the very forces American troops are fighting. And it is a deadly irony, because these funds add up to a huge amount of money for the Taliban. "It's a big part of their income," one of the top Afghan government security officials told The Nation in an interview. In fact, US military officials in Kabul estimate that a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents.

This isn't going to help public sentiment over the war. Vote Vets has more:

Here's how the chain works: The U.S. government pays trucking firms to move supplies around Afghanistan to its rural and far flung outposts. These trucking companies then pay private security contracting firms, operated by druglords, warlords, the Taliban and relatives of senior Afghan Administration officials, or consortiums of any or all of them, for safe passage to American installations. As one American trucking executive said, ""The Army is basically paying the Taliban not to shoot at them. It is Department of Defense money.""

As part of the Sunni Awakening movement in Iraq, the United States paid Sunni insurgents who previously fought American forces to secure their own neighborhoods from foreign fighters, with the promise that they would later be folded into the Iraqi national security apparatus. That is very different then the way operations are being conducted in Afghanistan, where we are essentially telling insurgents "Here is some money, just don't attack us here. Attack us somewhere else." Then, we give them the money to do it.

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Jon Stewart catches Sean Hannity lying

UPDATE via Greg Mitchell: Hannity admitted Stewart was right "although it pained" him to say it. It was "inadvertent." You believe that, right?

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CNN's on-air racist, Lou Dobbs, is gone after tonight's show

UPDATE @ 7:11 PM: It's official. Dobbs just announced that tonight is his "last broadcast." He's "considering a number of options." But, it sounded like he was presenting a campaign platform.

Two more things: Media Matters posted the video if anyone wants to see Dobbs quit.

And, Media Matters, which launched DropDobbs.org earlier this year, issued this statement:

"For too long, CNN provided Lou Dobbs with its stamp of approval as he pursued a dangerous, one-sided and all too often false conspiracy tinged crusade against immigrants," said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. "This is a happy day for all those who care about this nation of immigrants and believe in the power of media to elevate the political discourse."

_________
Excellent news. Tonight is Lou Dobbs last night on CNN. Yes, the hater is quitting:

Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said.

A CNN executive confirmed that Mr. Dobbs will announce his resignation plans on his 7 p.m. program. His resignation is effective immediately; tonight’s program will be his last on CNN. His contract was not set to expire until the end of 2011.

This is the only time I'll watch Dobbs' show.

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A triggered co-op in the Senate bill shouldn't be an alternative

As we all know, the action on health insurance reform has moved to the Senate. And, the initial indicators from Senate Democrats aren't good. They're already negotiating with themselves and the gimmick of the week is a triggered co-op proffered by Senator Tom Carper from Delaware. National Journal refers to it as a "Public Option Alternative." It's pretty much the most useless and counter-productive alternative.

McJoan, noting that this "combine[s] the two worst ideas," had an excellent breakdown:

A triggered co-op! A trigger that's never going to trigger to create a co-op that will never work. Seriously, this is their Plan B? Whatever happened to comprehensive healthcare reform? Whatever happened to providing affordable choices to all Americans? Which leads to this nugget:

The Democratic aide said staffers have tried to keep Carper’s alternative quiet due to concerns that publicity could draw attacks from liberal activists, which could complicate efforts to line up support from the full Democratic caucus.

Ya think? Yes, liberal activists will oppose this because it's utterly worthless.

And, Chris Bowers explains that this "triggered co-op" shouldn't be the alternative. Reconciliation should:

Since there are at least 51 votes for a public option in the Senate, and since reconciliation is still on the table, if we don't end up with a public option it won't be because we didn't have the votes.

Here's what worries me. Earlier today, Gallup reported that the GOP is ahead in its generic ballot poll for the first time. When things like that happen, the professional Democrats in DC flip out. Instead of getting stronger, Democrats cave. On the health insurance reform issue, we could see the Senate ram through a crappy bill. There will be tons of pressure from the conservatives Democrats and the White House to do that. Then, we go to conference. Remember, the President and other top White House officials have said repeatedly that the goal is to get to conference (he was clear about that on the conference call with bloggers on July 20.)

But, given the latest polling, there's a growing concern among some people following this very closely that the much weaker Senate bill will become the framework for a final bill. In conference, instead of fixing the bill (like we've been led to believe will happen), the players will make a few concessions to the House, then push hard for final passage of the weak bill in both bodies. The White House will claim victory and health care will be off the table. So, we have to be extra vigilant and hold our friends on the Hill accountable. They'll have to stiffen their spines and stick to their principles. The progressives do not have a great track record of standing strong and the White House knows that. We have the votes for real reform. But, it will take leadership and determination. Read the rest of this post...

Krugman says recovery might be better than he expected

From Mr. Dour (who we love) this is good news. Read the rest of this post...

The politics of stimulus

Hide behind economics all you like, the job of those running the Federal Reserve will always be political. Even if they pretend that their pronouncements are strictly factual, the political implications are so clear, it is often quite pointless to pretend otherwise. Alan Greenspan was probably the most celebrated practitioner of blathering-on-while-saying-nothing, leaving senators, reporters and the public wishing they had a decoder ring to figure out what the hell he was talking about. But even the God Greenspan was nakedly political when it suited him (e.g., when he publicly worried about how hard it would be to manage the economy if we actually paid off the national debt - so better pass Bush's latest tax cuts quick!)

So it is with the latest round of speeches from presidents of some of the regional Federal Reserve Banks - Janet Yellen and Dennis Lockhart - saying that interest rates would have to be kept low for a long time to come, and adding that unemployment is likely to stay high for at least another year or two. Never mind whether this is a "jobless recovery," or no recovery at all (I vote for the second) - it has the very clear implication that we need another stimulus and we need it now. The Federal Reservers have said as clearly as they know how to do that even if the government spends more money, we don't need to worry about all that borrowing causing higher interest rates because they have decided to keep them low. And have no doubt, they can do that if they want to. So, no worries about crowding out private investment. In fact, more spending could well crowd IN private investment because there will be more people with money to buy stuff and with any luck better infrastructure, etc.

So count this as one more scream out to the Administration that they had better get off their asses and stimulate the economy. As I have said before, they get lots of credit for avoiding the disaster that loomed last Fall. But I can't help but think that merely avoiding disaster isnt going to do the trick when campaigning for reelection next year. "Things could be much worse" lacks a certain something as a campaign slogan. It takes a long time for a stimulus to work (the last one still has a lot of spending left to get out the door) so Mr. Obama, Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi, please don't take a break after dealing with health care - the Federal Reserve is doing its part but you still have a lot of work to do.

And please, please, don't whine about how difficult the politics are. If you can't convince Congressmen to vote for more spending in their districts in an election year then you should just quit trying to pretend you know anything about politics right now. Read the rest of this post...

Why the paranoid right is dangerous

Paul Krugman:

In fact, the party of Limbaugh and Beck could well make major gains in the midterm elections. The Obama administration’s job-creation efforts have fallen short, so that unemployment is likely to stay disastrously high through next year and beyond. The banker-friendly bailout of Wall Street has angered voters, and might even let Republicans claim the mantle of economic populism. Conservatives may not have better ideas, but voters might support them out of sheer frustration.

And if Tea Party Republicans do win big next year, what has already happened in California could happen at the national level. In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster.

The point is that the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right is no laughing matter. Something unprecedented is happening here — and it’s very bad for America.

I've noted this before. They may be nuts, but the Dems may so screw up that the voters choose the nuts anyway. Then we're all in serious trouble. Read the rest of this post...

Big Pharma deal with White House expected to net billions for drug industry

Sam Stein at the Huffington Post:

The deal struck between the pharmaceutical lobby, the White House and Senate Democrats has drastically improved Big Pharma's expected profits, a private industry report finds.

IMS Health, a company that supplies the pharmaceutical companies with sales data, predicts that new health reform legislation -- combined with a projected upswing in the economy -- will result in a net gain of more than $137 billion in total market sales over the next four years. The new assessment was contained in document obtained by the Huffington Post.

Back in March, that same firm projected a compound annual growth rate of -0.1 percent in the period of 2008 through 2013. In October, with the general outlines of health care reform clearly in place, it revised that number to a positive 3.5 percent for over the same period.

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Under pressure from gay boycott of DNC, suddenly there's possible movement on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

It's not major movement, by any means. But it does show that pressure works. It's not a coincidence that Barney Frank is making noise on DADT right after we launch our boycott of the DNC. And this really isn't much more than smoke and mirrors (in that the "news" about DADT, that the repeal effort might happen next spring, was already widely known). The problem is "might" isn't good enough. And Barney Frank as the messenger isn't good enough. A senior White House official needs to go public, by name, and tell the world that the White House is going to push for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell next spring. And then the White House has to actually come up with a strategy to win repeal. More on the AMERICAblog gay. Read the rest of this post...

GOP's Coburn "is denying veterans many benefits and services”

We'll hear a lot of speeches about veterans and their service to our nation today. But, any Republican Senator who speaks today should be ashamed. Their colleague, Tom Coburn (OK) is still blocking a bill to aid vets. At the end of last week, Senator Akaka laid down the gauntlet:

Speaking Friday on the Senate floor about a procedural hold that is blocking passage of S. 1963, the Veterans’ Caregiver and Omnibus Health Benefits Act, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said “it would be truly disgraceful” if the bill didn’t clear the Senate by Veterans’ Day.

Akaka said the bill represents a bipartisan collection of veterans’ committee proposals packaged into one bill so it could quickly pass. Consideration of the measure is being blocked by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who doesn’t want the measure brought up unless he is given an opportunity to offer amendments.

“This single senator is denying veterans many benefits and services,” Akaka said, including a new caregiver assistant program at families of the “most seriously wounded veterans.”

Well, it's Veterans Day and Coburn is still blocking the bill. His GOP colleagues are enabling him.

On Monday, Democratic Senators held a press conference to focus attention on this issue. And, Coburn showed up for what he called the "festivities." The Democrats blasted him anyway:

Festivities? This is all fun and games for Coburn. It's reality for the vets and their families.

Isn't it time to just roll over Coburn? If the Senate can't do it for veterans, they won't do it for anyone. Read the rest of this post...

Gallup finds Repubs. ahead in 2010 generic ballot

This isn't good:

Republicans have moved ahead of Democrats by 48% to 44% among registered voters in the latest update on Gallup's generic congressional ballot for the 2010 House elections, after trailing by six points in July and two points last month.

The Nov. 5-8 update comes just after Republican victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections, which saw Republicans replace Democrats as governors of those states.

As was the case in last Tuesday's gubernatorial elections, independents are helping the Republicans' cause. In the latest poll, independent registered voters favor the Republican candidate by 52% to 30%

It's fixable. But, it requires boldness and leadership. Democrats being Democrats, instead of acting boldly, they will probably become captive to those who want to do less. We already started to see movement in that direction last week when Democrats on the Hill started backing away from key Democratic positions. My sense from the 2008 elections was that American people wanted leadership and wanted Obama and Congress to actually solve problems. Based on the these latest Gallup findings, that's not what they're seeing. And, the professional Democrats, the big dollar consultants types, will start their incessant fretting, which means Democratic leaders could become even more milquetoast. That will just end up annoying Independents and demoralizing the Democratic base.

Click photo for larger image:
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Wednesday Morning Open Thread

It's Veterans Day.

Today marks the anniversary of the end of World War I. It was also known as "the war to end all wars," which, unfortunately, it wasn't. My grandfather, Festus Joyce, served in World War I. He emigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1910. A few years later, he shipped out to Europe to fight for his new country, which earned him U.S. citizenship. That is a very American story -- and is repeated to this day. Below is my grandfather in his uniform. He died in 1970 when I was 10:

On this day when we honor them, thanks to all the vets and future vets.

Thread the news... Read the rest of this post...