Nov 10 2010

Greenwald v. O’Donnell

Now some of you may think I watch waaaaay too much TV and you’re absolutely right.  Since the 60s I’ve always had my choice of at least 2 of every network including PBS and a handful of independents.  My TV is constantly on, even when I’m napping, and I’m sure I absorb it osmotically (yes I do know that means movement of a solvent through a semi-permeable membrane and I deliberately chose it instead of ‘subliminally’ which is not only less felicitous but also hypnotic hocus pocus and not what I mean at all).

Now that we have vocabulary covered and a proper understanding of how marinated in media I am, I’d like to draw your attention to Greenwald on O’Donnell discussing the Democratic Party that you might have missed but through the miracle of the tubz you can experience at your leisure and convenience.

If Larry is a Socialist, I’m the freaking King of Siam.

The perniciousness of Blue Dogs

By Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com

Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 07:11 ET

I thought the West Wing clip at the end was simply masturbatory self indulgence.  You’re no Socialist Larry, you’re just another delusional Versailles Villager pretending to be a ‘Real American’ like Marie Antoinette pretended to be a milk maid on her play farm.

For context, the setup.

Am I becoming a Video Blogger?  No.  Frankly it’s a pain in the ass, much harder than real words.

Nov 10 2010

There Will Be No Investigation

(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

There will be no investigation, there will be no prosecution and there will be no rule of law.

DoJ: No charges for destruction of CIA interrogation videos

The Justice Department has decided not to bring criminal charges for the destruction of Central Intelligence Agency videotapes of tough interrogations of terrorism suspects, including videos of waterboarding.

“In January 2008, Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed Assistant United States Attorney John Durham to investigate the destruction by CIA personnel of videotapes of detainee interrogations,” Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said in a statement e-mailed to reporters Tuesday afternoon. “Since that time, a team of prosecutors and FBI agents led by Mr. Durham has conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter. As a result of that investigation, Mr. Durham has concluded that he will not pursue criminal charges for the destruction of the interrogation videotapes.”

An attorney for the former CIA official who ordered the tapes’ destruction, Jose Rodriguez, expressed satisfaction with the DoJ’s decision.

The stature of limitations was let expire on November 8 and “crickets” from the press.

Durham Torture Tape Case Dies, US Duplicity in Geneva & The Press Snoozes

And, The Obama Justice Department let it happen

Torture? Check. Covering Up Torture? Check. Rule of Law? Nope.

This inquiry started long before Obama started looking forward, not backward. It started before the White House allowed the Chief of Staff to override the Attorney General on Gitmo and torture. It started before we found out that someone had destroyed many of the torture documents at DOJ-only to find no one at DOJ cared. It started before the Obama DOJ made up silly reasons why Americans couldn’t see what the Vice President had to say about ordering the leak of a CIA officer’s identity. It started before the Obama White House kept invoking State Secrets to cover up Bush’s crimes, from illegal wiretapping, to kidnapping, to torture. It started at a time when we naively believed that Change might include putting the legal abuses of the past behind us.

This inquiry started before the Obama Administration assumed the right to kill American citizens with no due process-all the while invoking State Secrets to hide that, too.

This inquiry started before Bush and then Obama let BP get away with serial violations of the laws that protect our workers and environment, and then acted surprised when BP ruined our Gulf.

This inquiry started before Obama helped to cover up the massive fraud committed by our banks, even while it continued to find ways to print money for those same banks. It started, too, before the Obama Administration ignored mounting evidence that banks-the banks employed by taxpayer owned Fannie and Freddie-were foreclosing on homes they didn’t have the legal right to foreclose on, going so far as to counterfeit documents to justify it. This inquiry started when we still believed in the old-fashioned principle of property rights.

This inquiry started before banksters got excused when they mowed down cyclists and left the scene of the crime, because a felony would mean the bankster would lose his job.

The ACLU’s Anthony Romero reacted to this news saying, in part, “We cannot say that we live under the rule of law unless we are clear that no one is above the law.”

I think it’s clear. We cannot say we live under the rule of law.

Nov 10 2010

Thank You, Mr. Olbermann, the White House is on the Phone.

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Michael Moore: Well, good to see you. Just a little advice for you next time, form yourself into a corporation.

Keith Olbermann: Exactly

MM: Then you can give to whoever, how much you want, nobody cares and if your bosses have a problem with it, they can take it up with Scalia.

Nov 10 2010

On This Day in History: November 10

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 51 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1975, the 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald (nicknamed “Mighty Fitz,” “The Fitz,” or “The Big Fitz”) was an American Great Lakes freighter launched on June 8, 1958. At the time of its launching, it was one of the first boats to be at or near maximum “St Lawrence Seaway Size” which was 730 feet (220 m) long and 75 feet (23 m) wide. From its launching in 1958 until 1971 the Fitzgerald continued to be one of the largest boats on the Great Lakes.

Final voyage and wreck

Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin on the afternoon of Sunday, November 9, 1975 under the command of Captain Ernest M. McSorley. It was en route to the steel mill on Zug Island, near Detroit, Michigan, with a full cargo of taconite. A second freighter under the command of Captain Jesse B. “Bernie” Cooper, Arthur M. Anderson, destined for Gary, Indiana out of Two Harbors, Minnesota, joined up with Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, being the faster ship, took the lead while Anderson trailed not far behind. The weather forecast was not unusual for November and called for a storm to pass over eastern Lake Superior and small craft warnings.

Crossing Lake Superior at about 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), the boats encountered a massive winter storm, reporting winds in excess of 50 knots (93 km/h; 58 mph) with gusts up to 86.9 knots (160.9 km/h; 100.0 mph) and waves as high as 35 feet (11 m). Visibility was poor due to heavy snow.  The Weather Bureau upgraded the forecast to gale warnings. The freighters altered their courses northward, seeking shelter along the Canadian coast. Later, they would cross to Whitefish Bay to approach the locks.When the storm became intense, the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie were closed.

Late in the afternoon of Monday, November 10, sustained winds of 50 knots were observed across eastern Lake Superior. Anderson was struck by a 75-knot (139 km/h; 86 mph) hurricane-force gust. At 3:30 pm, Captain McSorley radioed the Anderson to report that she was taking on water and had top-side damage including that the Fitzgerald was suffering a list, and had lost two vent covers and some railings. Two of the Fitzgerald’s six bilge pumps were running continuously to discharge shipped water.

At about 3:50 pm, McSorley called the Anderson to report that his radar was not working and he asked the Anderson to keep them in sight while he checked his ship down so that the Anderson could close the gap between them. Fitzgerald was ahead of Anderson at the time, effectively blind; therefore, she slowed to come within 10 miles (16 km) range so she could receive radar guidance from the other ship. For a time the Anderson directed the Fitzgerald toward the relative safety of Whitefish Bay. McSorley contacted the U.S. Coast Guard station in Grand Marais, Michigan after 4:00 pm and then hailed any ships in the Whitefish Point area to inquire if the Whitefish Point light and navigational radio beacon were operational. Captain Cedric Woodard of the Avafors answered that both the light and radio direction beacon were out at that moment. Around 5:30 pm, Woodward called the Fitzgerald again to report that the Whitefish point light was back on but not the radio beacon. When McSorley replied to the Avafors, he commented, “We’re in a big sea. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

The last communication from the doomed ship came at approximately 7:10 pm, when Anderson notified Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how it was doing. McSorley reported, “We are holding our own.” A few minutes later, it apparently sank; no distress signal was received. Ten minutes later Anderson could neither raise Fitzgerald by radio, nor detect it on radar. At 8:32 pm, Anderson was finally able to convince the U. S. Coast Guard that the Fitzgerald had gone missing. Up until that time, the Coast Guard was looking for a 16 foot outboard lost in the area. The United States Coast Guard finally took Captain Cooper of the Anderson seriously shortly after 8:30 pm. The Coast Guard then asked the Anderson to turn around and look for survivors.

The Edmund Fitzgerald now lies under 530 feet of water, broken in two sections. On July 4, 1995, the ship’s bell was recovered from the wreck, and a replica, engraved with the names of the crew members who perished in this tragedy, was left in its place. The original bell is on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point in Michigan.

The Witch of November I am a sailor. Blessed Be

 1444 – Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw III of Poland) are crushed by the Turks under Sultan Murad II and Vladislaus is killed.

1520 – Danish King Christian II executes dozens of people in the Stockholm Bloodbath after a successful invasion of Sweden.

1619 – Rene Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy.

1659 – Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Maratha King killed Afzal Khan, Adilshahi in the battle popularly known as Battle of Pratapgarh.

This is also recognised as the first defence of Swarajya

1674 – Anglo-Dutch War: As provided in the Treaty of Westminster, Netherlands cedes New Netherlands to England.

1766 – The last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen’s College (later renamed Rutgers University).

1775 – The United States Marine Corps is founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia by Samuel Nicholas.

1793 – A Goddess of Reason is proclaimed by the French Convention at the suggestion of Chaumette.

1821 – Cry of Independence by Rufina Alfaro at La Villa de Los Santos, Panama setting into motion a revolt which lead to Panama’s independence from Spain and to it immediately becoming part of Colombia

1847 – The passenger ship Stephen Whitney is wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster results in the construction of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.

1865 – Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, is hanged, becoming the only American Civil War soldier executed for war crimes.

1871 – Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, allegedly greeting him with the words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”.

1898 – Beginning of the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, the only instance of a municipal government being overthrown in US history.

1910 – The date of Thomas A. Davis’ opening of the San Diego Army and Navy Academy, though the official founding date is November 23, 1910.

1918 – The Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia receives a top-secret coded message from Europe (that would be sent to Ottawa, Ontario and Washington, DC) that said on November 11, 1918 all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.

1919 – The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, ending on November 12.

1942 – World War II: Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral Francois Darlan’s agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.

1944 – The ammunition ship USS Mount Hood explodes at Seeadler Harbour, Manus, Admiralty Islands

1945 – Heavy fighting in Surabaya between Indonesian nationalists and returning colonialists after World War II, is celebrated as Heroes’ Day (Hari Pahlawan).

1951 – Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.

1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.

1958 – The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.

1969 – National Educational Television (the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States debuts the children’s television program Sesame Street.

1970 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – For the first time in five years, an entire week ends with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.

1970 – The Soviet Lunar probe Lunokhod 1 is launched.

1971 – In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city of Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine aircraft.

1972 – Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham, Alabama is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.

1975 – The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.

1975 – United Nations Resolution 3379: United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism (the resolution is repealed in December 1991 by Resolution 4686).

1979 – A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history.

1989 – Fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria.

1995 – In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), are hanged by government forces.

1997 – WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger (the largest merger in US history at the time).

2006 – Sri Lankan Tamil Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj is assassinated in Colombo.

2007 – Por que no te callas? incident between King Juan Carlos of Spain and Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez.

Nov 10 2010

Obama Admits to Failure

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

President Obama in an interview with “60 Minutes” correspondent, Steve Kroft, said

So, ultimately, I had to make a decision: do I put all that aside, because it’s gonna be bad politics? Or do I go ahead and try to do it because it will ultimately benefit the country? I made the decision to go ahead and do it. And it proved as costly politically as we expected. Probably actually a little more costly than we expected, politically. . . . .

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, partly because I couldn’t get the kind of cooperation from Republicans that I had hoped for. We thought that if we shaped a bill that wasn’t that different from bills that had previously been introduced by Republicans — including a Republican governor in Massachusetts who’s now running for President — that, you know, we would be able to find some common ground there. And we just couldn’t.

Some how the talking heads in the MSM managed to interpret this as Obama’s didn’t negotiate with Republicans.

From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, Ali Weinberg *** Obama in defeat: To us, the most striking part of President Obama’s “60 Minutes” interview was his admission that that he and his administration didn’t compromise and work with the Republicans.

Where were these people over the last two years?

The truth of the matter is Obama failed because he tried to negotiate with the Republicans. Republicans asked and Obama gave in to them and the blue dogs with out batting a pretty eyelash and got nothing in return. That was Obama’s defeat.

This has to be the worst interview by a sitting president in recent memory

Nov 10 2010

Prime Time

So Keith is back.  I’m tempted not to watch for fear he’ll do something stupid like apologize.  Broadcast premiers.

Greenwald on O’Donnell (definitely).

Later-

Dave hosts Denzel Washington and Bon Jovi.  Jon has Harrison Ford (cool), Stephen Cee Lo Green.  Conan Tom Hanks, Jack McBrayer, and Soundgarden.

Boondocks– The Story of Thugnificent

You know when fluoridation first began?

I… no, no. I don’t, Jack.

Nineteen hundred and forty-six. 1946, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It’s incredibly obvious, isn’t it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That’s the way your hard-core Commie works.

Uh, Jack, Jack, listen… tell me, tell me, Jack. When did you first… become… well, develop this theory?

Well, I, uh… I… I… first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love.

Hmm.

Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue… a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I… I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence.

Hmm.

I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh… women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh… I do not avoid women, Mandrake.

No.

But I… I do deny them my essence.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Nov 10 2010

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Gulf oil firms need ‘top to bottom reforms:’ US panel

by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP

36 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US presidential panel probing the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster on Tuesday slammed the firms involved in the deadly rig accident in April, calling them safety laggards in need of a complete overhaul.

“BP, Halliburton and Transocean are major companies operating throughout the Gulf, and the evidence is that they are in need of top-to-bottom reform,” said William Reilly, co-chair of the presidential oil spill commission.

“Emphatically, there was not a culture of safety on that rig… We know a safety culture must be led from the top and permeate a company,” he said as he opened the second day of a hearing into the April 20 explosion on a BP-leased drilling rig off the Louisiana coast.

2 Cholera outbreak surges, reaches slum in Haitian capital

by Clarens Renois, AFP

35 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Haitian officials Tuesday confirmed the first death from cholera in the ruined capital as the number of sick surged amid fears the outbreak will spread to the city’s teeming refugee camps.

One person was said to have died in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum, badly hit in the January earthquake which left 1.3 million people homeless in the impoverished Caribbean nation of some 10 million people.

For the moment there has been no large scale outbreak of the disease in the capital, but “it’s coming,” warned health ministry chief of staff Ariel Henry.

3 Cholera outbreak reaches Port-au-Prince: officials

by Clarens Renois, AFP

Tue Nov 9, 12:08 pm ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – The first ‘isolated’ cases of cholera were reported in the Haitian capital, amid fears Tuesday that last weekend’s hurricane rains will hasten the spread of the disease in Port-au-Prince’s squalid refugee camps.

Health Ministry chief of staff Ariel Henry told AFP that while there is no widespread infection in the capital so far, a sizeable outbreak here now appears likely.

“It’s coming,” Henry warned, adding that two deaths believed to have been caused by cholera were being probed by health officials, who planned a press conference in Port-au-Prince later Tuesday to discuss the developments.

4 Obama returns to childhood home Indonesia

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

2 hrs 19 mins ago

JAKARTA (AFP) – A “deeply moved” Barack Obama dodged volcanic ash and made a whirlwind return to his boyhood home of Indonesia on Tuesday, saying he would never have believed he could come back as US president.

Obama marvelled at the transformation of the sleepy city of Jakarta he once knew into a bustling metropolis and noted the country’s parallel evolution from authoritarianism to democracy and a burgeoning alliance with Washington.

“It’s wonderful to be here although I have to tell you that when you visit a place that you spent time in as a child, as the president it’s a little disorientating,” he told reporters.

5 EU fines 11 airlines 800 million euros for air cargo cartel

AFP

2 hrs 18 mins ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Europe’s competition watchdog hit 11 airlines with nearly 800 million euros in fines Tuesday for running a global cargo cartel that included Air France-KLM, British Airways and Japan Airlines.

“It is deplorable that so many major airlines coordinated their pricing to the detriment of European businesses and European consumers,” said European competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

The fines, totalling 799.4 million euros (1.1 billion dollars), were slapped on airlines that span the globe, from Air Canada and LAN Chile in the Americas to Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines in Asia and Qantas in Australia.

6 Unapologetic Bush defends legacy

by Olivier Knox, AFP

28 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – An emotional but unapologetic George W. Bush opened up about his tumultuous presidency Tuesday as he released memoirs in which he defiantly defends the Iraq invasion and the use of waterboarding.

“I felt so strongly about the decisions I was making and I felt that history would understand,” Bush, who left office deeply unpopular at home and abroad, said during an hour-long interview with US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.

The former president, who dubbed himself “the decider” during his eight years in the White House, takes readers of his 500-page “Decision Points” on a backstage tour of his administration and confronts his bitterest critics.

7 Bush defends legacy in new memoir

by Patrick Baert, AFP

Tue Nov 9, 9:12 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – George W. Bush, all but invisible since he left the White House nearly two years ago, reclaimed the spotlight Tuesday with the release of a memoir defending his “war on terror” and the Iraq invasion.

“Decision Points” appears a week after the momentous November 2 US elections saw congressional Republicans make a strong recovery after falling out of favor with US voters following the eight often tumultuous years of Bush’s administration.

Bush will be as ubiquitous over the next few weeks as he has been scarce since handing over the keys to the White House to Barack Obama in January 2009, with a whirlwind schedule of media appearances to promote his book, which has a print-run of some 1.5 million copies.

8 Nuclear waste battle shows German feelings run deep

by Frederic Happe, AFP

Tue Nov 9, 12:52 pm ET

GORLEBEN, Germany (AFP) – German activists claimed victory Tuesday after huge delays to a radioactive waste convoy that showed the depth of unease over nuclear power as Berlin moves to keep its reactors for longer.

“(The shipment) may have arrived but the government is further than ever from its aim of getting people in Germany to accept nuclear power,” Florian Kubitz from protest group Robin Wood said.

“We are going to draw new strength from these protests and feel we have been supported by a broad and decisive movement.”

9 Study links painkillers to male fertility problems

AFP

Tue Nov 9, 11:37 am ET

PARIS (AFP) – Could mild painkillers, taken by women during pregnancy, be linked to male fertility problems?

The question is raised by a new study which suggests that these over-the-counter analgesics may be a greater risk than hormone-disrupting chemicals and plastics that are most blamed for causing reproductive problems in later life.

Researchers pored over data from 834 women in Denmark and 1,463 in Finland who were questioned during their pregnancy about their health and use of medication.

10 Oceania’s seafaring ancients make journey to Paris

by Emma Charlton, AFP

Tue Nov 9, 10:05 am ET

PARIS (AFP) – Ancient seafarers who launched one of the world’s swiftest migrations, settling the virgin islands of remote Oceania 3,000 years ago, have brought their story to Paris for an unprecedented new exhibit.

The Lapita, as the ancient Oceanic people are known, were all-but-unheard of just a few decades ago.

But since the mid-1990s the discovery of a body of highly-distinctive potteries, spread across some 250 sites, has shed light on how the Lapita set out over uncharted waters, bringing their language and culture with them.

11 Barclays bank profits slump in third quarter

AFP

Tue Nov 9, 9:40 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – British bank Barclays said Tuesday that underlying profits slumped 76 percent in the third quarter, hit by its poorly-performing investment unit and despite a sharp drop in bad debts.

Pre-tax earnings collapsed to 327 million pounds (379 million euros, 528 million dollars) in the three months to September, compared with 1.362 billion pounds in the same part of 2009.

However, the figure included a huge 947-million-pound charge against the rising value of the group’s debts at its Barclays Capital investment division.

12 Army-backed party claims victory in Myanmar vote

by Hla Hla Htay, AFP

Tue Nov 9, 8:40 am ET

YANGON (AFP) – The Myanmar military’s political proxy claimed an overwhelming victory Tuesday in an election condemned as a sham by the West, as fresh fighting erupted between ethnic rebels and government forces.

Pro-democracy parties urged the authorities to act against “cheating” during Sunday’s poll, in which the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) had already enjoyed major financial and campaigning advantages.

“We have won about 80 percent of the seats. We are glad,” said a senior USDP member who did not want to be named.

13 New drugs, materials unveiled at nanotech conference

by Sara Hussein, AFP

Tue Nov 9, 6:31 am ET

TEL AVIV (AFP) – A material just one atom thick that is stronger than steel but flexes like rubber. A “mini-submarine” that can trick the immune system and deliver a payload of chemotherapy deep inside a tumour.

They sound like the fantasies of science fiction writers, but they are among the discoveries being presented at Nano Israel 2010, a nanotech conference in Tel Aviv that has attracted researchers from across the science world, united by their work with the very, very small.

The 1,500 participants at the two-day meeting which ends on Tuesday include chemists, physicists and medical researchers, all working with tiny structures around the thickness of a cell wall.

14 Obama arrives in Indonesia

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Tue Nov 9, 6:16 am ET

JAKARTA (AFP) – US President Barack Obama finally made a much-delayed homecoming of sorts to Indonesia on Tuesday, seeking to engage Muslims and cement strategic relations on the second leg of his Asia tour.

Obama arrived in Jakarta under stormy skies on Air Force One from India, as his nine-day Asian odyssey took him from the world’s largest democracy to its most populous Muslim-majority nation.

The president spent four years in Indonesia as a boy with his late mother, though he will have little time for tourism on the 24-hour visit in which he will attempt to renew his outreach to the Muslim world while courting new markets and business opportunities for US companies.

15 Company errors, complacency preceded oil spill: panel

By Ayesha Rascoe, Reuters

53 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A co-chair of the White House Oil Spill Commission took square aim at mistakes by BP and its partners that led to the Gulf oil spill, saying on Tuesday that they illustrate the need for a better safety culture in the oil drilling sector.

Complacency at BP, as well as at Transocean Ltd and Halliburton, led to serious missteps prior to the rig explosion that unleashed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over the summer, said Commission co-chair Bill Reilly, in comments more critical than Monday’s Commission statements that rig workers did not place cost cutting over safety.

“BP, Halliburton and Transocean are major respected companies operating throughout the Gulf and the evidence is they are in need of top-to-bottom reform,” Reilly, a former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said at the start of the second session of commission’s two-day meeting on the root causes of the spill this week.

16 Myanmar army-backed party sweeps election

By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters

Tue Nov 9, 7:36 am ET

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s biggest military-backed party won the country’s first election in 20 years by a landslide on Tuesday after a carefully choreographed vote denounced by pro-democracy parties as rigged to preserve authoritarian rule.

Opposition parties conceded defeat but accused the military junta of fraud and said many state workers had been forced to support the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in advance balloting ahead of Sunday’s vote.

U.S. President Barack Obama told a news conference in Indonesia Myanmar’s election was neither free nor fair and called on Burmese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners.

17 Special report: For U.S. veterans, the war after the wars

By Nick Carey, Reuters

Tue Nov 9, 9:01 am ET

FOREST CITY, Iowa (Reuters) – Deep in America’s heartland, this small town is a world away from the heat of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan.

But it is here in Forest City and communities across the country that families like the Jordals will battle the legacy of both conflicts for decades to come.

Surrounded by red, white and blue Americana in their powder blue Midwestern home, family matriarch Rhonda Jordal says she can deal with most of the fallout of her son Steven’s two tours in Iraq.

18 Obama speaking to Muslims, shortens Indonesia trip

By Alister Bull and Patricia Zengerle, Reuters

10 mins ago

JAKARTA (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will make a major speech addressed to the Islamic world on Wednesday, before an erupting volcano forces him to make an early departure from the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

The U.S. leader cut short his long-delayed visit to Indonesia, where he lived for four years as a child, by concern that an ash cloud from the deadly Mount Merapi volcano would prevent his taking off in time to attend a G20 summit in South Korea.

But his curtailed schedule will still allow time for a visit to Jakarta’s national Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in southeast Asia, and to make the speech at the University of Indonesia.

19 Bush seeks legacy, but will Americans read?

By Mark Egan, Reuters

2 hrs 13 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – President George W. Bush may hope his memoir will help shape his legacy, but after the glow of being on Oprah and the media blitz wears off, few Americans who buy “Decision Points” are likely to read it, experts say.

“Most people do not read presidential memoirs because they get bored,” said Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. “People just like to have the presidential memoir sitting on the coffee table.”

Readers are wary of such memoirs, Gelb said, noting the most honest accounts typically come from journalists or aides, not from the official account. He said that in Bush’s case, four books from Bob Woodward, starting with the favorable “Bush at War” and then growing more critical with each volume over Bush’s eight-year presidency from 2001-2009, had the gossip Americans want.

20 Private security firms sign global code of conduct

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

Tue Nov 9, 12:59 pm ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – Nearly 60 private security firms deployed in war zones, including the former Blackwater, pledged on Tuesday to curb their use of force, vet and train personnel, and report any breaches, officials said.

An international code of conduct setting down the first set of standards was sparked by concerns over alleged abuses committed by the Pentagon’s private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan amid virtual impunity from criminal prosecution.

Neutral Switzerland initiated the landmark code, drawn up over the past year with the help of Britain and the United States, home to most private security companies.

21 China raises expectations of more rate rises

By Jason Subler and Aileen Wang, Reuters

Tue Nov 9, 11:03 am ET

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – China signaled its intention on Tuesday to drain excess cash from its financial system by unexpectedly raising the yield on bills at a central bank auction and announcing new rules to curb hot money inflows.

One of the measures directed against inflows — requiring banks to hold a minimum amount of dollars overnight — sparked a day of unprecedented yuan volatility, with the Chinese currency ending sharply up against the dollar.

Taken together, the moves flagged China’s increasing concern about a surge in liquidity after the U.S. Federal Reserve launched another round of quantitative easing, prompting some analysts to say monetary tightening may be closer than thought.

22 U.S. says it will tackle discrimination, prisons

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

Tue Nov 9, 10:23 am ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States promised on Tuesday to tackle racial discrimination and treat prisoners humanely in its jails at home and abroad, in line with recommendations by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

A U.S. delegation, responding to 228 recommendations made by other countries during a U.N. debate last Friday, said that the Obama administration was working to close its detention center for foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and would not tolerate torture anywhere.

But it rejected as “political provocations” recommendations about some judicial cases handled by U.S. courts. These had been raised by ideological foes including Cuba, which called for the release of five Cuban agents convicted of spying.

23 Business is business in Japan’s Chinatown

By Yoko Kubota and Chris Buckley, Reuters

Tue Nov 9, 4:17 am ET

YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) – Even with festering strains between China and Japan, business is business, and in the Japanese city hosting a regional summit the bonds binding Asia’s top two economies can be counted in pork buns and chestnuts.

Yokohama will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting this weekend, giving Japanese and Chinese leaders another chance to grapple with tensions over territorial claims. The port city is also home to Japan’s biggest Chinatown.

On alleys crammed with Chinese restaurants, shops and stalls selling roasted chestnuts, Japanese and ethnic Chinese vendors and visitors said the political rancor could not crowd out the more pressing business of making a living.

24 BP, firms did not shirk safety for money: panel

By Ayesha Rascoe, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 6:39 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House oil spill commission said on Monday it found no evidence to support accusations that the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history happened because workers for BP Plc and its partners cut corners to save money, mostly blaming the accident on a series of on-site misjudgments.

“To date we have not seen a single instance where a human being made a conscious decision to favor dollars over safety,” the commission’s Chief Counsel Fred Bartlit said at a meeting exploring the causes of the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Bartlit said the panel agreed with about 90 percent of the findings of BP’s internal investigation of the accident released this summer. BP’s report assigned much of the blame for the accident to its drilling partners.

25 No charges for destroying CIA interrogation videos

By PETE YOST, Associated Press

28 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A special prosecutor cleared the CIA’s former top clandestine officer and others Tuesday of any charges for destroying agency videotapes showing waterboarding of terror suspects, but he continued an investigation into whether the harsh questioning went beyond legal boundaries.

The decision not to prosecute anyone in the videotape destruction came five years to the day after the CIA destroyed its cache of 92 videos of two al-Qaida operatives, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Nashiri, being subjected to waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning. The deadline for prosecuting someone under most federal laws is five years.

The part of the nearly 3-year-old criminal investigation that examines whether U.S. interrogators went beyond the legal guidance given them on the rough treatment of suspects will continue, a Justice Department official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that part of the probe is still under way.

26 Bad news Democrats – 2012 could be worse than 2010

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press

29 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Last week’s election was bad for Democrats. The next one could be worse. Senate Democrats running in 2012 will be trying to hold their jobs in states where Republicans just scored major congressional and gubernatorial victories – Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Virginia.

The Democrats’ problems don’t end with senators.

President Barack Obama carried those states in 2008, and he will need most of them to win re-election in two years. But this time they all will have Republican governors. These GOP governors can try to inhibit the president’s policies and campaign operations. They also can help steer next year’s once-a-decade House redistricting process in the GOP’s favor.

27 GOP investigators take aim at health care overhaul

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

31 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Republicans plan to use the investigative powers of Congress to go after President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, and they’re focusing on questions uppermost in the minds of consumers:

What’s it going to cost me? Can I keep the coverage I have if I like it?

Republicans can call hearings and compel testimony, and Obama has no veto power to stop them. In the House, they’ll control three major committees with a mandate to poke around on health care, subpoenas available if needed. In the Senate, they’ll have added leverage on two key panels, so their demands can’t be easily ignored.

28 At home in Indonesia, Obama reaches out to Muslims

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

32 mins ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia – From the most Muslim nation on earth, President Barack Obama is reaching out to the Islamic world, declaring that efforts to build trust and peace are showing promise but are still clearly “incomplete.”

Obama on Wednesday will deliver one of the most personal and potentially consequential speeches of his presidency, reflecting on his own years of upbringing in Indonesia and giving an update on America’s “new beginning” with Muslims that he promised last year in Cairo.

At the same time, the path to lasting peace in the Middle East was hardly looking smoother. A reminder of that difficult road was waiting for Obama when he landed here Tuesday on a steamy afternoon in southeast Asia. Israel’s decision to build more apartments in east Jerusalem, a disputed territory claimed by Palestinians, had already earned a rebuke from American diplomats before a tired, traveling president weighed in himself.

29 Fate of Alaska race hinges on write-in count

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press

33 mins ago

JUNEAU, Alaska – Election workers will begin scrutinizing tens of thousands of ballots in the Alaska Senate race on Wednesday in a scene reminiscent of the 2000 Florida recount. There will be no hanging chads this time around – just lots of scribbled names.

The vote count could help determine whether Sen. Lisa Murkowski wins re-election as a write-in candidate – or whether the courts get the final say in what has been a fiercely contested race.

Murkowski waged an aggressive write-in campaign after losing the GOP primary to the Sarah Palin-backed candidate Joe Miller. While initial returns showed write-in ballots leading Miller by 13,439 votes, it’s not clear how many of those were for Murkowski or the 159 other write-in candidates.

30 Bush promotes book in Dallas, chats with Winfrey

By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press

36 mins ago

DALLAS – Autograph-seekers lined up around a Texas shopping center Tuesday as former President George W. Bush officially kicked off the release of his new memoir at a bookstore about a mile from his Dallas home.

First in line were Terry and Tammy Jones of suburban Justin, who had camped out since the previous afternoon with sleeping bags and a portable DVD player. They said when they told Bush of their wait, he said he would sign their books “with admiration,” shaking 53-year-old Terry Jones’ hand and kissing his wife’s.

“Eighteen hours for two seconds and a kiss on the hand,” Tammy Jones, 52, said with a smile.

31 Neglect threatens many of Italy’s cherished ruins

By FRANCES D’EMILIO, Associated Press

23 mins ago

ROME – For all of Italy’s ancient wonders, the real wonder might be that so many are still standing, given the poor care they get. The collapse in Pompeii last week of a frescoed house where gladiators prepared for combat was the latest loss. The structure had survived the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. but apparently could not withstand modern neglect.

“We’re stunned when some walls fall down. But these are ruins not systematically maintained, so the miracle is that so few of them collapse,” said Andrea Carandini, a world-renowned archaeologist who leads a panel of professional consultants in the Cultural Ministry.

Last spring, a huge segment of Nero’s fabled Golden Palace beneath Rome gave way, raining down pieces of vaulted ceiling in one of the galleries under a garden popular with strollers. Three years ago, a 20-foot (6-meter) section of ancient wall crumpled into a pile of bricks after days of heavy rain. The wall had been named after the third century emperor Aurelius, who built it to defend Rome against the first onslaught of barbarians.

32 San Fran to ban toys in some fast food kids meals

By TREVOR HUNNICUTT, For The Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 2:18 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s a happy moment for people who see the Happy Meal as anything but.

San Francisco is poised to become the first major American city to prohibit fast food restaurants from including toys with children’s meals that do not meet nutritional guidelines.

The measure passed on a preliminary vote by the city’s Board of Supervisors last week, and is expected to win final passage Tuesday with enough votes to survive a likely veto by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

33 Sex, drugs more common in hyper-texting teens

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

Tue Nov 9, 4:09 am ET

ATLANTA – Teens who text 120 times a day or more – and there seems to be a lot of them – are more likely to have had sex or used alcohol and drugs than kids who don’t send as many messages, according to provocative new research.

The study’s authors aren’t suggesting that “hyper-texting” leads to sex, drinking or drugs, but say it’s startling to see an apparent link between excessive messaging and that kind of risky behavior.

The study concludes that a significant number of teens are very susceptible to peer pressure and also have permissive or absent parents, said Dr. Scott Frank, the study’s lead author.

34 Poll: Majority of Afghans back talks with Taliban

By KATHARINE HOURELD, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 11:22 am ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – Nearly all Afghans want their government to make peace with the Taliban despite their growing dislike for the insurgency, according to a survey funded in part by the U.S. government.

The survey released Tuesday by the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation found that 83 percent of Afghan adults back negotiations with armed, anti-government groups, up from 71 percent last year. But it also said 55 percent of Afghans had no sympathy at all for the insurgency this year, up from 36 percent last year. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they had “a little sympathy” for the aims of the insurgency.

Analysts said the survey reflected growing doubt that the government and its NATO allies can defeat the insurgency with military means and that after 30 years of war, some Afghans were willing to sacrifice some freedoms for the sake of peace.

35 As boomers age, 1 in 5 drivers will be oldsters

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 11:15 am ET

WASHINGTON – Remember “The Little Old Lady from Pasadena”? Baby boomers who first danced to that 1964 pop hit about a granny burning up the road in her hot rod will begin turning 65 in January. Experts say keeping those drivers safe and mobile is a challenge with profound implications.

Miles driven by older drivers are going up and fatal crashes involving seniors coming down, but too often they are forced to choose between safety and being able to get around, experts told a National Transportation Safety Board forum on transportation and aging Tuesday.

Within 15 years more than one in five licensed drivers will be 65 or older, the safety board said. Their number will nearly double, from 30 million today to about 57 million in 2030, according to the Government Accountability Office.

36 With Obama’s visit, India displays new power

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 6:04 am ET

NEW DELHI – For much of the last decade, New Delhi sold itself as “India Rising.” Barack Obama’s trip here delivered a new message: India has risen.

During his three day visit that ended Tuesday, the U.S. president delivered nearly everything on India’s wish list, affirming the country’s growing importance.

He endorsed India’s role in nearby Afghanistan, even though such a statement was sure to annoy India’s regional rival Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the Afghan war. He chided Pakistan for not cracking down heavily enough on anti-India militant groups operating there. He lifted export controls, allowing India to buy high-tech weaponry from the U.S., and he gave spirited support to Indian industry, maintaining it wasn’t stealing American jobs, but helping create new ones.

37 THE INFLUENCE GAME: Shippers fought cargo controls

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 12:56 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Despite knowing for decades that terrorists could sneak bombs onto planes, the U.S. government failed to close obvious security gaps amid pressure from shipping companies fearful tighter controls would cost too much and delay deliveries.

Intelligence officials around the world narrowly thwarted an al-Qaida mail bomb plot last month, intercepting two explosive packages shipped from Yemen with UPS and FedEx.

But it was a tip from Saudi intelligence, not cargo screening, that turned up the bombs before they could take down airplanes. Company employees in Yemen were not required to X-ray the printer cartridges the explosives were hidden inside. Instead, they looked at the printers and sent them off, U.S. officials said.

38 Cholera confirmed for resident of Haiti’s capital

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 3:44 am ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The cholera epidemic has spread into Haiti’s capital, imperiling nearly 3 million people living in Port-au-Prince, nearly half of them in unsanitary tent camps for the homeless from the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Health authorities told The Associated Press on Monday that tests confirmed a 3-year-old boy who hadn’t been out of the city had caught the disease. More than 100 other suspected cholera cases among city residents also were being tested.

The outbreak has already killed at least 544 people in Haiti, Health Ministry Executive Director Gabriel Timothee told the AP.

39 Conan O’Brien returns to late-night TV with ease

By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer

Tue Nov 9, 3:44 am ET

NEW YORK – Conan O’Brien relaunched his TV career on Monday night with a stylishly back-to-basics hour that radiated hard-won lessons from his brief stay hosting “The Tonight Show.”

With his new TBS show titled simply “Conan,” O’Brien seemed appealingly stoked yet comfortable in his new home at 11 p.m. ET and on basic cable, originating from a sleek, cozy set with a full moon poised on a seaside backdrop.

If there were very few surprises on the premiere, well, how could there have been after the incessant online hype and all the press attention showered on his much-anticipated return? Besides, O’Brien was back with his longtime sidekick Andy Richter and most of his trusty house band members, now led by Jimmy Vivino (and renamed The Basic Cable Band).

40 23-year-old is first Canadian to win WS of Poker

By OSKAR GARCIA, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 4:37 am ET

LAS VEGAS – Quebec poker professional Jonathan Duhamel said he worked a series of bad jobs before getting into cards and making his living online at tables with $5 and $10 minimums.

Now – if he wants – he might never have to work again.

Duhamel won the World Series of Poker title and $8.94 million on Monday night, becoming the first Canadian to take down the no-limit Texas Hold ’em main event in Las Vegas.

41 Obama makes long-awaited return to Indonesia

By NINIEK KARMINI, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 54 mins ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia – After two years of waiting, Indonesians are finally getting the chance to welcome back their adopted son. But the euphoria that swept the predominantly Muslim country after Barack Obama’s election victory has been replaced by a dose of reality.

Few here now believe he will change American policies in the Middle East or improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world. And hopes that the two countries would march forward together on the world stage have been cast aside.

Still, Indonesians gathered around television sets all over the country – in their houses, coffee shops and office buildings – and watched as he touched down.

42 Spill panel: No evidence of saving $ over safety

By SETH BORENSTEIN and DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 10:56 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The BP oil rig explosion and spill wasn’t about anyone purposely trading money for safety, investigators on a special presidential commission said Monday. Instead it was more about seemingly acceptable risks adding up to disaster.

Investigators at the commission’s hearing outlined more than a dozen decisions that at the time seemed questionable but also explainable. It was how those cascaded and crashed together that fueled catastrophe.

Yet there was no evidence of a conscious decision on the BP rig to do things on the cheap at the expense of safety, investigators stressed several times. Likewise, representatives of the companies involved in the disaster denied that corners were cut because of cost.

43 Settlement deadline passes for ill 9/11 responders

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press

8 mins ago

NEW YORK – A federal judge has given thousands of 9/11 rescue and recovery workers more time to join a legal settlement that would pay millions of dollars to people sickened by dust from the World Trade Center.

Workers who participated in the ground zero cleanup initially had until the end of the day Monday to decide whether to join a deal that would pay at least $625 million to people who developed illnesses after working in the rubble.

But after a “huge influx” of people filed paperwork related to the settlement in the days before the deadline, lawyers representing the city agreed to extended the deadline for another week.

44 Abu-Jamal case back before Philadelphia court

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

14 mins ago

PHILADELPHIA – Police widows and supporters of death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal listened Tuesday as federal appeals judges debated whether the former Black Panther deserves a new sentencing hearing in a police officer’s death.

The appeals court had granted the new sentencing hearing on the grounds that the jury at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial was not given proper death-penalty instructions. But the U.S. Supreme Court this year, in rejecting a similar Ohio case, ordered the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges to rethink its decision.

Under Pennsylvania law, Abu-Jamal should have received a life sentence if a single juror found the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating factors in the slaying of Officer Daniel Faulkner.

45 Vt. barber says not good at cutting blacks’ hair

By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press

24 mins ago

BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Barber Mike Aldrich says he was trying to avoid embarrassment – and a lousy haircut – when he balked at trimming the hair of Dr. Darryl Fisher. He says he’s just no good at cutting black people’s hair.

Fisher, who’s black, believes there was something race-related about the way Aldrich, who’s white, turned him away when he ducked into Mike’s Barber Shop asking for a trim one day last month.

What happened next triggered hard feelings on both sides, a demonstration by locals unhappy with the barber and a new example of an old problem – white barbers and hairdressers struggling to cope with black customers’ hair, which generally is thicker and curlier than white people’s hair.

46 2 lawsuits challenge US Defense of Marriage Act

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press

1 hr 50 mins ago

NEW YORK – Gay civil rights groups trying to build momentum for a possible Supreme Court showdown filed two lawsuits Tuesday that seek to strike down portions of a 1996 law that denies married gay couples federal benefits.

The lawsuits were filed in federal courts in Connecticut and New York and come just months after a federal judge in Boston struck down a key component of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

The legal actions seek judicial declarations that the law enacted by Congress in 1996, when it appeared Hawaii would soon legalize same-sex marriage, was unconstitutional because it prevents the federal government from affording pension and other benefits to same-sex couples. Since 2004, five states – Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts – and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage.

47 Obama nostalgic on return trip to Indonesia

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 3:03 pm ET

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Barack Obama marveled at the sights and sounds – the rickshaws, the cramped taxis – still vivid in his memories of boyhood in this Asian nation. More than four decades later, the president said it was “a little disorienting” to see the sprawling, built-up capital.

A shopping mall built in 1962, now dwarfed by glitzy high-rises, was the only building on Jakarta’s skyline he recognized, Obama said Tuesday.

The bicycle rickshaws that plied the streets when he lived here in the 1960s were nowhere to be seen as the president’s limousine hurried along routes cleared for his motorcade – though he still said “my understanding is that Jakarta traffic is pretty tough.” In fact, Jakarta has changed, even as Obama’s own circumstances have dramatically altered since the days he played and studied in a humble neighborhood here.

48 Hearing starts in soldier’s ‘thrill kill’ case

By GEORGE TIBBITS, Associated Press

Tue Nov 9, 2:23 pm ET

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – The Army sergeant accused of masterminding a plan to kill Afghan civilians for sport and goading other soldiers to do the same appeared at a military hearing Tuesday to determine whether there is enough evidence to court-martial him.

In what has emerged as one of the most gruesome cases of the Afghan war, fellow soldiers say Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs also threatened them, collected fingers of the dead and found it amusing to slaughter animals with his assault rifle.

Gibbs has a chance to contest that portrait during the Article 32 hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle. Charges against him include murder, dereliction of duty and trying to impede an investigation.

49 Iranian Nobel laureate says opposition growing

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 7:14 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said Monday that opposition to the Iranian government is growing, spurred by an increase in government violence, more human rights violations and deepening poverty.

The human rights lawyer, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote democracy, said in an interview with The Associated Press that she came to the United Nations to talk about the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and seek support for a draft U.N. General Assembly resolution that would condemn the country’s rights record.

Although much of the opposition movement has gone underground since the violent crackdown after the disputed June 2009 presidential election, Ebadi said it definitely isn’t faltering.

50 Mich. asst. AG accused of harassing student fired

By TIM MARTIN, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 6:44 pm ET

LANSING, Mich. – An assistant state attorney general accused of harassing the gay student assembly president at the University of Michigan was fired Monday.

Andrew Shirvell, 30, went on leave about a month ago after national criticism erupted over a blog he wrote characterizing student leader Chris Armstrong as a “racist” and a “liar” who promoted a “radical homosexual agenda.”

Shirvell’s attorney has said his actions were constitutionally protected as free speech. Shirvell had attended the first day of a disciplinary hearing Friday and expected that hearing to continue later this week, but then was called in and fired.

Nov 09 2010

Chocolate Fountains

Matt Bai is a Moron

By 2006 I’d been blogging for about a year and while I did not attend the initial Netroots Nation I well remember the sensation caused by Mark Warner’s Chocolate Fountain.  Indeed, it inspired me to write what I consider one of my very best (and least noticed) pieces ever- My Las Vegas Convention- A Happy Story.

At 6:06 the doors opened on this ballroom that occupied the entire floor.  The view was spectacular, all up and down the Strip.  There were 2 Champagne Fountains and 2 Chocolate Dippers.  There were buffet tables and carving stations.  THERE WAS AN OPEN BAR!  Four of them, it’s a fun club.

So basically there were 20 people there.  And me.  And my sweetheart.  All sweaty and flushed and tired, our credentials flopping around our necks.

Remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and company go down the hall?  It was kind of like that, only bigger and longer.  At the end of (no kidding) about a quarter of a mile was the DJ.  We wandered up and said hi and he said- “So is there anything you want to hear?”  I let her pick the song.  It was slow and sappy and we grabbed each other and spun around, alone on acres of dance floor, on top of the world.

The operative part is “2 Champagne Fountains and 2 Chocolate Dippers”.

The moral of that piece I’ll leave you to judge, but you’ll understand I’m not easily impressed.

Mark Warner’s Chocolate Fountain Remorse

By: emptywheel Tuesday November 9, 2010 5:36 am

Once upon a time in 2006, a dirty fucking hippie blogger had an opportunity to ask aspiring presidential candidate Mark Warner a few questions. Mark Warner had just dedicated part of a speech to talking about how Iran was the biggest WMD threat. So with her questions, the dirty fucking hippie blogger asked Mark Warner how, if the NIE had said Iran was years away from having nukes whereas Pakistan and its al Qaeda favoring Generals and unstable government already had nukes, Iran could be the biggest WMD threat. Warner then listed three reasons why Iran was the biggest WMD threat: its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, its nutty president, and its aspirations for hegemony in the Middle East. “But none of those things are WMD,” the blogger said.

Matt Bai, who observed the entire exchange, would later blame the dirty fucking hippie’s questions (which, after all, proved correct on several counts and served mostly to highlight to Warner how blindly he had embraced a popular talking point) for single-handedly driving nice moderate Mark Warner from the presidential race and with him potentially the ability to succeed as a party.

The dirty fucking hippie blogger took from that exchange the following: 1) Mark Warner doesn’t have the analytic ability to understand what threatens this country 2) Matt Bai tends to spout stupid centrist ideology even when reality proves him wrong.

…

Now, Mark Warner and his friends that maintain the deficit as a bigger threat than a stagnant economy are precisely what we dirty fucking hippie bloggers point to as the problem with the last two years. Because these centrists put their own pet theories ahead of real analysis of what our country needed, the legislation they passed failed to do the job. It’s the economy, stupid, and the economy is still so shitty at least partly because deficit scolds like Mark Warner cut the already too-small stimulus package back when it could do some good.

Which is what Matt Bai fails to understand with his piece trying to refute the theory that Democrats failed because they catered to people like Mark Warner.

…

What Bai and Warner choose not to understand is that centrism is an ideology even more stubborn than the left or right they love to attack, but an ideology that got us into the mess we’re in now, both fiscally and electorally.

Matt Bai thinks Ronald Wilson Reagan was the bestest President ever.

Nov 09 2010

Punting the Pundits

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Bob Herbert: The Impossible Dream

One of the most frustrating tendencies of mainstream leaders in the United States is their willingness, year after debilitating year, to embrace policies that have no hope of succeeding.

From Lyndon Johnson’s mad pursuit of victory in Vietnam to George W. Bush’s disastrous invasion of Iraq to today’s delusionary deficit zealots, the tragic lure of the impossible dream seems never to subside.

Ronald Reagan told us he could cut taxes, jack up defense spending and balance the budget – all at the same time. How’d he do? As his biographer Garry Wills tells us, the Gipper “nearly tripled the deficit in his eight years, and never made a realistic proposal for cutting it.”

President Obama is escalating the war in Afghanistan while promising to start bringing our troops home next summer, which is like a heavyweight boxer throwing roundhouse rights while assuring his opponent that he won’t fight quite as hard after the eighth or ninth round.

I don’t know if it’s the drinking water or the rarefied air at the highest reaches of government that makes so many of our leaders go loopy. Whatever it is, we need to put a stop to these self-defeating tendencies. The U.S. is in sad shape, and most of the policy prescriptions being tossed around by the movers and shakers are bad ones.

Peter Daou: On 60 Minutes, President Obama apologizes to America for being a Democrat

The title of this post is intentionally hyperbolic and provocative – I couldn’t think of any other way to express my shock at the things President Obama said to Steve Kroft.

First, some context: I’ve been insistent that the fundamental problem for President Obama and Democratic leaders is a lack of moral authority, a pervasive sense among the electorate that they don’t have the courage of their convictions . . .

The aftermath of the GOP’s midterm triumph perfectly illustrates this problem: Obama is falling over himself seeking compromise with Republicans, ceding to their frames, while Republican leaders say they will stick to their principles and try to destroy his presidency and legacy. Here’s how I put it a couple of days ago: If one side offers “compromise” and the other claims to stand firmly on principle, which one appears more principled to voters?

Astonishingly, in a 60 Minutes piece that just aired, Obama goes one step further. During the course of the entire interview he only once mentions having the courage of one’s convictions. And he attributes it not to himself or Democrats, but to Tom Coburn, a staunch conservative!

Eugene Robinson: Mr. President, some leadership, please

Last week, voters made a powerful statement about leadership: They’d like some, please. So far, there’s no evidence that either President Obama or the top Republicans in Congress were paying the slightest attention.

In his only interview since the GOP rampage, with Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes,” Obama was reasonable, analytical, professorial – but also uninspired and uninspiring. I’m just being honest, if not generous; when Kroft asked whatever happened to Obama’s “mojo,” the president gave the impression that he’s been wondering the same thing.

By uninspired, I mean there was no sense that Obama relishes the high-stakes political battles that are sure to come over the next two years. There was no hint, for example, that he looks forward to the opportunity to put Republicans on the spot about all the unrealistic budget-cutting they say they want to carry out. And by uninspiring, I mean that the president offered no vision of a brighter tomorrow. Instead, he sketched a future not quite as dim as the present.

Adam Serwer: Even with tax cuts, GOP appears willing to shoot the hostage

The debate on ABC’s This Week between former Reagan Office of Management and Budget director David Stockman and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence (R) was instructive in how Republicans view their immediate policy priorities. While Stockman was urging expiration of the Bush tax cuts to reduce the deficit, Pence insisted that they should be extended, because Republicans aren’t so much interested in reducing the deficit as they are cutting taxes for the wealthy, and they’ve done an excellent job of convincing the media to avoid noting the contradiction.

On 60 Minutes, President Obama indicated he’d be willing to compromise with Republicans by extending the tax cuts for the middle class permanently while possibly agreeing to a temporary extension of the cuts for the wealthy. House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, meanwhile, said Republicans would refuse the White House proposal to “decouple” the rates in such a manner.

Richard Cohen: Boehner’s health delusion

With a John Boehner speakership fast approaching, I dutifully read up on the man. I learned he is a Midwestern fellow, born (like us all) into the virtuous lower middle class, one of 12 siblings and a man whose early career, in an unironic homage to “The Graduate,” was in plastics. What I did not know – what was missing entirely from my reading – is that he might be French.

Or Japanese. Or Finnish or British or even German. Whatever the case, this much is clear: No American, certainly not one about to occupy a leadership position in our government, could possibly call the American health-care system “the best health care system in the world.” Boehner did just that last week. He was having an out-of-country experience.

Dana Milbank: Rick Perry takes on the salt police

The feds are trying to take away your salt – and Texas Gov. Rick Perry finds this unsavory.

“We are fed up with being overtaxed and overregulated,” he writes in “Fed Up,” his aptly named new book.”We are tired of being told how much salt we can put on our food, what windows we can buy for our house, what kind of cars we can drive… and countless other restrictions on our right to live as we see fit.” . . .

So, Perry opposes income taxes, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare? This is radical stuff, and he calls his book evidence that “I’m not running for the presidency.” Maybe so. Whatever the wisdom of his ideas, he gets points for bravery. He wants others to “push back on those who would be nothing more than fearmongers.”

Good plan. Let’s push back against Social Security fearmongers. And, while we’re at it, let’s also push back against fearmongers who say big government is coming for your salt shaker.

Robert Kutter: Time for Team B — And a Movement

In the 1970s, the CIA appointed a “Team B” to challenge prevailing assumptions about national security. Since then, there have been other Team B exercises to question prevailing views.

This is a smart move. An in-group of experts often becomes an echo-chamber, reinforcing their own prejudices and excluding people with different views. If you are inside, you demonstrate your own loyalty by not frontally challenging the top people, no matter how disastrous. This, of course, is the road to foreign policy debacles like Iraq and Vietnam.

But the same thing happens in politics and domestic policy. As we’ve just seen, Obama’s A-Team of political advisers did not exactly shine.

Dean Baker: The Deficit Commission Tsunami

There are three separate deficit commissions prepared to share their wisdom with the American people before the end of the year. These three commissions all have two important features in common: not one member of these commissions warned of the catastrophe that would be created by the collapse of the housing bubble, and they all think it is a good idea to cut Social Security.

The country is currently experiencing its worst economic downturn in 70 years with more than 25 million people unemployed, underemployed or having given up looking for work altogether. It might have been appropriate for a commission that purports to be giving advice on the future of the country’s most important social programs, as well as the overall budget, to include at least one person who was awake enough to notice the $8 trillion housing bubble that wrecked the economy.

Richard (RJ) Eskow : Does Obama Really Want to Make Social Security Cuts Even the Tea Party Wouldn’t Touch?

The president could be on the brink of making a serious mistake, one with grave implications for his political future and even graver implications for aging Americans. If he responds to this election by adopting the Deficit Commission’s recommendation to cut Social Security, President Obama will be snatching catastrophe from the jaws of defeat. He’ll be responding to the “voice of the people” by giving people something they really, really don’t want.

The Campaign for America’s Future and Democracy Corps commissioned a poll from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research which showed that an overwhelming 69 percent of voters agreed that “politicians should keep their hands off Social Security and Medicare” when they address the deficit.

Yet on 60 Minutes last night, the president said that we’re “still confronted with the fact that the vast majority of the federal budget are things that people really think are important, like Social Security and Medicare and defense. And so, you then have to start making some tough decisions about how do we pay for those things that we think are important? … I mean, we’re gonna have to, you know, tackle some big issues like entitlements that, you know, when you listen to the Tea Party or you listen to Republican candidates they promise we’re not gonna touch.”

Nov 09 2010

Again- How’s that austerity thing working out for you?

Background- Ireland is in some ways a model of the current state of the U.S. economy in miniature.  Same Real Estate bubble fueled by the same fraud, 3 big banks now all insolvent but bailed out.  Ireland eagerly embraced an austerity program early on.  How is that working out?

“Morgan Kelly is Professor of Economics at University College Dublin.”

If you thought the bank bailout was bad, wait until the mortgage defaults hit home

Morgan Kelly, The Irish Times

Monday, November 8, 2010

WHEN I wrote in The Irish Times last May showing how the bank guarantee would lead to national insolvency, I did not expect the financial collapse to be anywhere near as swift or as deep as has now occurred. During September, the Irish Republic quietly ceased to exist as an autonomous fiscal entity, and became a ward of the European Central Bank.

It is a testament to the cool and resolute handling of the crisis over the last six months by the Government and Central Bank that markets now put Irish sovereign debt in the same risk group as Ukraine and Pakistan, two notches above the junk level of Argentina, Greece and Venezuela.

…

With the €55 billion repaid, the possibility of resolving the bank crisis by sharing costs with the bondholders is now water under the bridge. Instead of the unpleasant showdown with the European Central Bank that a bank resolution would have entailed, everyone is a winner. Or everyone who matters, at least.

The German and French banks whose solvency is the overriding concern of the ECB get their money back. Senior Irish policymakers get to roll over and have their tummies tickled by their European overlords and be told what good sports they have been. And best of all, apart from some token departures of executives too old and rich to care less, the senior management of the banks that caused this crisis continue to enjoy their richly earned rewards. The only difficulty is that the Government’s open-ended commitment to cover the bank losses far exceeds the fiscal capacity of the Irish State.

…

This €70 billion bill for the banks dwarfs the €15 billion in spending cuts now agonised over, and reduces the necessary cuts in Government spending to an exercise in futility. What is the point of rearranging the spending deckchairs, when the iceberg of bank losses is going to sink us anyway?

…

As a taxpayer, what does a bailout bill of €70 billion mean? It means that every cent of income tax that you pay for the next two to three years will go to repay Anglo’s losses, every cent for the following two years will go on AIB, and every cent for the next year and a half on the others. In other words, the Irish State is insolvent: its liabilities far exceed any realistic means of repaying them.

…

Banks have been relying on two dams to block the torrent of defaults – house prices and social stigma – but both have started to crumble alarmingly.

People are going to extraordinary lengths – not paying other bills and borrowing heavily from their parents – to meet mortgage repayments, both out of fear of losing their homes and to avoid the stigma of admitting that they are broke. In a society like ours, where a person’s moral worth is judged – by themselves as much as by others – by the car they drive and the house they own, the idea of admitting that you cannot afford your mortgage is unspeakably shameful.

That will change. The perception growing among borrowers is that while they played by the rules, the banks certainly did not, cynically persuading them into mortgages that they had no hope of affording. Facing a choice between obligations to the banks and to their families – mortgage or food – growing numbers are choosing the latter.

…

The gathering mortgage crisis puts Ireland on the cusp of a social conflict on the scale of the Land War, but with one crucial difference. Whereas the Land War faced tenant farmers against a relative handful of mostly foreign landlords, the looming Mortgage War will pit recent house buyers against the majority of families who feel they worked hard and made sacrifices to pay off their mortgages, or else decided not to buy during the bubble, and who think those with mortgages should be made to pay them off. Any relief to struggling mortgage-holders will come not out of bank profits – there is no longer any such thing – but from the pockets of other taxpayers.

…

By next year Ireland will have run out of cash, and the terms of a formal bailout will have to be agreed. Our bill will be totted up and presented to us, along with terms for repayment. On these terms hangs our future as a nation. We can only hope that, in return for being such good sports about the whole bondholder business and repaying European banks whose idea of a sound investment was lending billions to Gleeson, Fitzpatrick and Fingleton, the Government can negotiate a low rate of interest.

…

Ireland faced a painful choice between imposing a resolution on banks that were too big to save or becoming insolvent, and, for whatever reason, chose the latter. Sovereign nations get to make policy choices, and we are no longer a sovereign nation in any meaningful sense of that term.

(h/t dday, Kevin Drum, and Tyler Cowen)

How’s that austerity thing working out for you? by ek hornbeck, 11/8/10

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