Ralph Nader writes a letter from Bush to Obama

Even if you're not a Nader person (like myself) this should give you something to think about. Obamabush.

The Leftists are always trying to have your policies show me up negatively. Hah—they’re having one hell of a tough time, aren’t they?

Me state secrets, you state secrets. Me executive privilege, you executive privilege. Me stop the release of torture videos, you backed me up. Me indefinite detention, you indefinite detention. Me extraordinary rendition; you extraordinary rendition. Me sending drones, you sending tons more, flying 24/7. Me just had to look the other way on collateral damage, you doing the same and protecting our boys doing it. Me approving night time assassination raids, you’re upping the ante especially since General Petraeus took over. Me beefing up Defense, you not skipping a beat. Me letting the CIA loose, you told them operate at large. Me demanding no pictures of our fallen troops, you doing the same, but allowing the families to go to Dover which I should have done.

There is one big difference. I never cracked a law book. You are a top Harvard lawyer and teacher of constitutional law. So when you do what I did, man, it’s—what’s the word—legitimization!

Domestically, sure you rag Wall Street, but you continued the big bail out of the bankers and their supporting cast. Sure, you’re tougher with your words, but they deserve it—remember I said that the Wall Streeters “got drunk” and “got a hangover”.

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Cenk on MSNBC: 'This is how our democracy is bought'

Not so surprisingly, there's a lot of campaign cash floating around related to both the 'porno-scanners' and private security. Neither is healthy for the system. Read the rest of this post...

The stimulus generated a lot of jobs in Q3

Now we will have the opportunity to see how the GOP can muck up the economy, as they did when they caused the crash. Democrats should be keenly aware that it was the GOP policies that triggered the recession, with Democratic help. Going along with the Republican lies this time should come with a heavy price at the polls.

Remind me again how many jobs Bush and the GOP created in eight years? NY Times:

The massive U.S. stimulus package, widely viewed by voters to be ineffective, put 1.4 million to 3.6 million people to work between July and September, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also boosted national output by between 1.4 percent and 4.1 percent during that period, CBO said in its latest estimate.

CBO's estimates have consistently shown that the $814 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, construction spending and enhanced safety-net provisions has blunted the impact of the worst U.S. recession since the 1930s.

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Napolitano and TSA reviewing 'porno-scanners' for metro, boats, trains

Remember, the bad guys hate us for our freedoms.

The next step in tightened security could be on U.S. public transportation, trains and boats.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists will continue to look for U.S. vulnerabilities, making tighter security standards necessary.

“[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” Napolitano said in an interview that aired Monday night on "Charlie Rose."

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THIS JUST IN: Tom Delay convicted of money laundering

Hate that.

DeLay was accused of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. On the conspiracy charge, DeLay faces a sentence of two to 20 years in prison and five to 99 years or life in prison on the money laundering count.

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Palin hits back at former First Lady Barbara Bush

Via PoliticalWire:

In an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show, Sarah Palin blasted back at Barbara Bush's recent comments suggested she "stay in Alaska."

Said Palin: "I think the majority of Americans don't want to put up with the blue bloods. And I say it with all due respect because I love the Bushes. The blue bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners."

Blue blood vs trailer trash. That pretty much sums up the state of the Republican party nowadays. Read the rest of this post...

Video: In the TSA 'explaining room' (funny)

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Ruth Marcus of WaPo: Grow up and accept unproven and potentially dangerous TSA methods

Oh, and there's that pesky little issue of the Constitution as well that doesn't seem to register. Perhaps she's fine with scrapping privacy for security theater that would not have caught the underwear bomber (nor did it detect 2 12" razor blades, according to Adam Savage) but many Americans do find this disturbing. Outside of the TSA, experts are not convinced the TSA screening policies provide to stop an attack. This is about the worst article in the Post since Steve Pearlstein praised BP's cleanup effort.

Grow up and accept any intrusion or humiliation because only children complain about rights? Really?

The uproar over the new procedures is overblown and immature. The marginal invasion of privacy is small relative to the potential benefit of averting a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, some of the loudest howls of outrage emanate from those who would be quickest to blame the Obama administration for not doing enough to protect us if a bomber did slip through.

Granted, the images from the souped-up screeners are uncomfortably graphic. But where is the harm if some guy in another room, who doesn't have a clue who I am and doesn't see my face (it's obscured on the machine), gets a look at my flabby middle-aged self? The images are automatically deleted once the screening is completed. It's the old philosophical riddle: If your butt sags in the forest . . .

By contrast, the pat-down is actually intrusive, no question about it. But you most likely won't have to endure it unless you balk at the enhanced imaging. If you do, the pat-down will be conducted by a screener of the same gender. If you want, it can be done in a private area.

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TSA relents: Passengers can now put genitalia in checked baggage

SatireWire:

TSA spokeswoman Gina Carloni, however, said checked luggage was only one option. Travelers who feel they might need their genitals during the flight can choose to place them in carry-on bags or in plastic bins along with other personal items.

“We make people remove their belts, their shoes, their hats. Having them remove their genitals should not be a big deal,” said Carloni.

Airline analyst Kendall Zebow agreed, although he warned there could be unforseen carry-on genital drawbacks.

“Maybe a screener sees some suspicious genitals. Maybe they’re uncircumsized. ‘Why are you wearing a hood?’ It looks bad,” he said. “So the TSA agent is going to hold them up and ask, ‘Are these your genitals?’ I don’t know that I could identify mine.”

There is, he added, another potential problem.

“What if, in a rush to get to the gate, you forget them? If some guy lost his genitals, that would be tragic,” said Zebow, although he did not mention President Obama by name.

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Video: Baby squirrel adopted by cat and fellow kittens

Absolutely adorable.  Though I still worry that the owner is in for a surprise when baby squirrel grows up.

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Coburn and DeMint want to scrap the $7.7 billion corn ethanol subsidies

Good. It's about time that horrible waste of money is ended. The subsidies only helped raise the cost of food for humans and the process generated more (polluting) energy than it produced. More at FireDogLake. Read the rest of this post...

Tell President Obama: We really need his fierce advocacy on DADT now

As I mentioned in the open thread, President Obama is meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates this morning. Hopefully, they'll be discussing a strategy to secure passage of the Defense bill, which includes the DADT language.

Time is running out. The President needs to step up if we're going to pass the DADT language this year, as promised. Today, John and I launched a sign on letter urging President Obama to fully engage in this process. We sent this email to our AMERICAblog list.  We hope you'll join us in signing this open letter to the President that we will then deliver to the White House on your behalf:

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs recently told reporters that President Obama hasn't made any calls to wavering senators in support of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- which will soon be voted on in the Senate. What's he waiting for?

At a recent meeting between President Obama and progressive bloggers, Joe Sudbay personally told the president about our widespread disappointment over his failure to fulfill his campaign promises, including repeal of DADT.

Today, we're asking you to help us show that this sentiment is real by joining our open letter that we'll personally deliver to the White House.

Click here to join us in telling President Obama to put some skin in the game and call senators in support of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- now.

In September, when John McCain was leading the filibuster against the Defense Authorization bill, which includes the DADT language, President Obama didn’t make one phone call to Capitol Hill. But he did find time that day to call the WNBA champs.

With the Defense bill being brought up again in the next few weeks, we need President Obama’s leadership once again -- this is not the time for him to be MIA. He promised to be our fierce advocate. Let's tell him: We need his fierce advocacy now on this issue.

If we don't repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell now, we all lose. It would be a “political disaster” for President Obama, according to The Hill newspaper. LGBT voters know that it could be years before we get another chance at passing anything pro-gay at the federal level. And Democrats learned this past November what happens when they leave their base disillusioned. None of us can afford to miss this window of opportunity.

So please join us in telling President Obama to start calling senators now in support of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Click here -- then, share with friends.

The stakes are high. Thanks for joining us in this fight.

We want to help prevent this political disaster, which will be a loss for our servicemembers, our national security, the President and our country.

Add your voice to the letter. Sign here. Read the rest of this post...

Wall Street returns to conspicuous consumption

Who deserves to pamper themselves more than Wall Street? By gosh, the crisis that they created was so long ago, so who really remembers the details of what happened? It's time to spend, spend, spend.

“Wall Street is back spending as much if not more than before,” said the New York cosmetic surgeon Dr. Francesca J. Fusco, whose business is booming again after a difficult few years.

Christie’s auction house says investors from the financial world who fell out of the bidding market during the 2008 credit crisis are “pouring” back in.

Expensive restaurants report a pickup in bookings. At the Porter House restaurant in the Time Warner Center across from Central Park, the head chef, Michael Lomonaco, says business is up about 10 percent over a year ago and “people are starting to shake off what happened.” The restaurant is a favorite of A-list Wall Street executives, including Goldman Sachs’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein.

Real estate agents say Wall Street executives have already begun lining up rentals in the Hamptons for next summer. Dolly Lenz of Prudential Douglas Elliman said the bidding this year was “hotter and heavier” than previous years. “There is a passion now in the market I haven’t seen in a while,” she said.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

This morning, the President will pardon a turkey. Yes, this is considered a big news event. After pardoning the turkey, the President is meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. They've got a lot to talk about: North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq --- and the Defense Authorization bill, which includes the DADT language. Be interesting to see how hard Gates fights for that authorization bill. It's very, very important to his Department. In September, no one in the Obama administration fought to get it passed. Will Obama and Gates be working the phones this time? It won't happen without their direct involvement. Just won't.

Unless war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, that turkey pardon could be the big news of the day.

So, it is the day before Thanksgiving. Big, big travel day. If you're on the roads, drive carefully. If you're flying, good luck with the porno-scanners and pat downs. Read the rest of this post...

UK to cut student and skilled worker visas

Boy does that sound like a country that is going places. This odd conservative obsession with foreigners is odd since more people emigrate from the UK than immigrate. And really, who doesn't want educated, skilled workers to help grow a troubled economy? The Independent:

The number of visas issued to foreign students will be cut by up to 120,000 in an effort to achieve David Cameron's pledge of a dramatic fall in immigration.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, announced plans yesterday to impose a limit of 21,700 next year on the total of skilled non-European workers allowed to move to Britain. But she excluded staff who transfer jobs with the same employers to Britain from the cap, bringing the total number of skilled workers to be admitted to the country next year to an estimated 35,000 to 40,000. That will be a modest reduction of 10,000 to 15,000 on the previous year, a fraction of the scale of cuts required to meet the Prime Minister's target.

The Government's focus is now turning to foreign students who represent some 60 per cent of the migrants coming to Britain. Mrs May signalled that in future visas would only be issued to students taking up degree courses.

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Portugal goes on strike as government prepares to vote on austerity bill

Now that the crisis in Ireland has been averted with a €85 billion bailout (plus even more austerity) all eyes are on Portugal. The government in Lisbon has denied the need for a bailout though many believe the problem will need to be addressed next month or early 2011 at the latest. As for Spain, most would rather not even think about how costly that is going to be.

Portugal's unions hope to bring the country to a near standstill on Wednesday as they stage a general strike in protest at planned wage cuts.

Transport, industry and schools are set to be severely affected by the strike, the unions said.

The strike comes two days before the parliament in Lisbon is to vote on an austerity budget.

The budget aims to quell international unease over Portugal's public spending and deficit.

For the first time in 20 years, the country's main unions UGT and CGTP have united in a call for a national day of industrial action.

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'Taliban leader' in high level peace talks was a fraud

Could this fiasco sound any more ridiculous? NY Times:

For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.

But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.

“It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. “And we gave him a lot of money.”

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