I'll be offline the rest of today, so here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Ten years ago today, October 7, 2001, then President G.W. Bush announced we launched military strikes in Afghanistan. Here is the text of his speech.

It's now the longest war in U.S. history. More than 2,000 U.S. service members and several thousand civilians have died. Here's the cost of the wars in dollars.

According to Pro Publica, here are the differences between Obama and Romney on Afghanistan. Here are Mitt Romney's positions Iraq and Afghanistan over the years.

17 of Romney’s 24 special advisors on foreign policy served in the Bush-Cheney Administration.

Apparently, things did not go smoothly for many of those who paid to watch the John Stewart - Bill O'Reilly rumble online through Roku. There were troubles logging on to the debate and staying logged on for the first half hour.

At the Speakeasy blog of The Wall Street Journal, what was supposed to be a real-time account of the Rumble instead recorded for 42 minutes a blogger’s inability to connect to the online stream. On Twitter, Roger Ebert complained that he could not get coverage of the debate from the video-streaming service Roku, writing: “I promote Stewart vs. O’Reilly on ROKU on FB and Twitter and can’t log in myself. Bad image for ROKU.”

Roku is going to replay the mock debate and make it available for download-- and offer refunds to those who want them. But it is a good reminder that the internet needs a backup plan when it comes to anything important with a firm deadline. [More...]

What kind of identification does your state require to vote? Here's a handy map by Headcount.org, just click on your state or scroll down to the text.

Also, different states have different policies on the type of identification college students need to vote. If you know a college student, here's a really handy color-coded map to pass along.

What's Headcount.org? It's a non-partisan organization that works with musicians "to promote participation in democracy." Their volunteers stage voter registration drives at concerts. They get the artists involved as well. [More...]

Cleric Abu Hamza, aka Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, aka Abu Hamza al-Masri, made his first court appearance in New York today, following his extradition yesterday from the UK.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's press release is here. The 2006 Second Superseding Indictment is here.

Along with Abu Hamza, four other alleged terrorists were flown to the U.S. Two will be tried in Connecticut, and three in New York. The other four are Khaled al-Fawwaz, Babar Ahmad, Adel Abdul Bary and Syed Talha Ahsan.

In exchange for allowing the extradition, the U.K. obtained a promise from the U.S. that all five would be tried in civilian courts and not face the death penalty.

The charges against Abu Hamza include conspiring to set up a training camp in Bly, Oregon. His co-defendant Oussama Kassir, from Sweden, was convicted at trial in 2009 and received life in prison, which he is serving at Supermax in Colorado. Kassir's conviction was upheld on appeal in 2011.[More....]

The picks (all 2 units unless otherwise indicated, best bets in BOLD):

TCU -7 over Iowa State (4 units), Georgia Tech +10½ over Clemson, Stanford -10 over Arizona (4 units), North Carolina -6 over Virginia Tech (5 units), Kentucky +10 over Mississippi State, Southern Mississippi +10 over Boise State, Auburn -7½ over Arkansas (3 units), Kansas +25 over Kansas State, Rutgers -7 over Connecticut (3 units), Penn State -3 over Northwestern, Boston College -7 over Army, Navy +8 over Air Force, Indiana +15½ over Michigan State, North Carolina State +16 over Florida State (4 units), Washington +24½ over Oregon (3 units), California +3 over UCLA, Nebraska +3½ over Ohio State (4 units), Miami (Florida) +14 over Notre Dame (7 units), South Carolina -1½ over Georgia (5 units), Texas -7 over West Virginia (5 units), Texas A&M; -14 over Mississippi (3 units), LSU -3 over Florida (3 units), Missouri -7 over Vanderbilt (3 units), Maryland -7 over Wake Forest, Washington State +15 over Oregon State, Oklahoma -4 over Texas Tech (5 units), Wisconsin -15 over Illinois.

Open Thread.

It's a jail day for me which means an open thread for you.

Megaupload user Kyle Goodwin is going to get an evidentiary hearing on his motion for return of the data he stored on Megaupload's servers. The judge says he wants to hear evidence about whether Rule 41(G) (Motion for return of property) applies. He's already made up his mind on the other statute involved, 18 USC 1963. From the court order:

"Upon thorough review of the arguments before the Court... and careful consideration of the applicable law, the Court finds that it is unable to reach a conclusion as to this matter without an evidentiary hearing."

Megaupload/Kim Dotcom lawyer Ira Rothken says Megaupload will seek to intervene.

George Zimmerman is going to sue NBC News and some execs and reporters/producers over the distorted edits of his non-emergency call. The edit wasn't limited to one Today show. And it appeared online for a few weeks on NBC Miami's website. I outlined all the tv and online versions here, here and here.

Your turn.

Initially, Mitt Romney tried to defend his 47% remarks, calling them inartfully phrased. In case you don't recall his remarks, here's what he said at a campaign event:

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney said in the video. "There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

"Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax," Romney said, and that his role "is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."sed.

Tonight, Romney reversed course, and admitted he was completely wrong. [More....]

I'll be flying solo on Daily Kos Radio from 11 to noon Eastern today. Discussing the debate.

How to Listen to Daily Kos Radio:

Can't see the Flash player? Click here to download the stream directly.

Open Thread.

So the pundit consensus (as well as the snap polls) say Romney won the debate last night. I don't agree but that's not what decides these things.

President Obama has never been a good debater (For those who have forgotten, Hillary Clinton cleaned his clock in the 2008 primary debates.) And he was not good last night. But I thought Romney was terrible - frantic and wild. Answers filled with word salads.

And in particular, I thought Romney' performance on the tax issue was simply absurd. Below the fold I present you the transcript of the tax portion of the debate:

A Senate Committee has released the results of its two year investigation into the $1.4 billion post-9/11 fusion centers The bi-partisan report finds the programs, intended to facilitate sharing of information among law enforcement, were ineffective, overly expensive and intruded on civil liberties.

“It’s troubling that the very ‘fusion’ centers that were designed to share information in a post-9/11 world have become part of the problem. Instead of strengthening our counterterrorism efforts, they have too often wasted money and stepped on Americans’ civil liberties,” said Senator Tom Coburn, the Subcommittee’s ranking member who initiated the investigation.

The investigation determined that senior DHS officials were aware of the problems hampering effective counterterrorism work with the fusion centers, but did not always inform Congress of the issues, nor ensure the problems were fixed in a timely manner.

The iinvestigation reviewed 600 reports and found most had nothing to do with terrorism. The full report is here. [More...]

Rosa Linda Cafe is a long-standing, family owned, really good Mexican food restaurant in Denver that contributes to the community. Here are the awards it has received.

Now the family is getting death threats. Why? The Romney campaign learned owners Oscar Aguirre and his parents are Mormon. In an attempt to capitalize on this, it asked the restaurant to allow it to hold a campaign event at the restaurant. The restaurant, which says it does not support either party (they are Independents) or hold political events, declined.

"It was presented to us that (Romney) wanted to do a political stump here. (He wanted to) talk about our small business (and) because we share our religious views with the candidate and are Latinos it would be great for him to do a campaign stop," Aguire said. "We did say 'no' because we are not Republicans, nor are we Democrats. We will welcome any sitting President of the United States. But, we did not want to be a campaign stop."

The threats started after Denver's Westword learned of the rejection, and wrote a story. (Skip the comments, you'll want to take a shower afterwards.) [More...]

Remember when Romney said the other day young people who got deferments under Obama's order wouldn't face deportation? Now he's issued an addendum, lowering the boom. Only those who actually get a deferment before he becomes President will avoid deportation -- because they've purchased it and it's a done deal. Once he's President, he'll end the policy and those who haven't already received a deferment will be subject to deportation.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would end an Obama administration policy allowing some young illegal immigrants to stay in the country and work, though anyone already granted a reprieve from possible deportation wouldn't see that permission revoked.

Romney told The Denver Post on Monday that people who are able to earn the two-year reprieves to stay and work wouldn't be in danger of deportation if he is elected. His campaign later clarified that while Romney would honor permission to stay as granted under President Barack Obama, a Romney administration wouldn't grant such permission.

Romney also says he'll veto the Dream Act if passed.

Mitt was the energizer bunny. Obama was Steady Eddie. If you missed the debate, here's the full transcript.

By the end, Romney's bright-eyes were fading.

Romney had no memorable lines.

What I recall: Obama's refrain that Romney has no details. Is he withholding them because they are so good?

Another good point by Obama: If you're 54 or 55, listen up, Romney's proposed Medicare and Social Security changes will affect you. [More...]

Live Thread. Live Blogging to Commence as Soon as Possible. (Added (TL): I'll fill in till BTD arrives and then add my thoughts in comments.

90 minutes about domestic issues. 6 15 min segments. 2 minute answers for first question with remainder of time open. Lehrer picked the questions. There will be 3 on the economy, 1 each on health care, role of government and role of governing. They will focus on differences, specifics and choices. (Good luck with that.)

The audience will be silent. [More...]