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

November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 52 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1872, fire rips through Boston.

The Great Boston Fire was Boston’s largest urban fire and still one of the most costly fire-related property losses in American history. The conflagration began at 7:20 p.m. on November 9, 1872, in the basement of a commercial warehouse at 83-87 Summer Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The fire was finally contained twelve hours later, after it had consumed about 65 acres of Boston’s downtown, 776 buildings, and much of the financial district and caused $73.5 million in damage. At least twenty people are known to have died in the fire.

In the aftermath, the city established an entirely new system of firefighting and prevention. The fire also led to the creation of Boston’s financial district.

The fire began in the basement of a warehouse at the corner of Kingston and Summer streets. At the time, this area of the city contained a mix of residences and light industry. Its buildings and most area roofs were made mainly of wood, allowing the blaze to spread quickly as the wind blew red hot embers from rooftop to rooftop. In addition, as Boston streets were narrow, large flames from one structure could literally leap across them to nearby buildings.

Firefighting units from Maine to New Haven, Connecticut, arrived to help, but efforts to fight the fire were plagued by difficulties. There was not enough water on hand to get the fire under control; the hydrant system did not work well because much of the equipment was not standardized; and even when firefighters got their hands on an adequate supply of water, the height of the buildings and the narrowness of the streets made it difficult to direct the water at the blaze from the optimum angle. Because a local equine epidemic had struck the city fire department’s horses, it was difficult to get the fire engines to the correct locations at the right times. In addition, some of the efforts were counter-productive. Explosions were used to attempt fire breaks, but this high-risk strategy was not executed with enough precision and served only to further spread the fire.

The fire was finally stopped at the doors of Fanueil Hall the following morning, but it had already destroyed much of the downtown area. Boston’s officials realized that their fire-prevention efforts had been ineffective and, in the aftermath of the disaster, began to revise and strengthen all of the city’s fire laws and regulations. An inspection system was instituted and the local fire departments began to coordinate their efforts.

 694 – Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery.

1282 – Pope Martin IV excommunicates King Peter III of Aragon.

1313 – Louis the Bavarian defeats his cousin Frederick I of Austria at the Battle of Gamelsdorf.

1330 – Battle of Posada, Wallachian Voievode Basarab I defeats the Hungarian army in an ambush

1456 – Ulrich II of Celje (Slovene: Ulrik Celjski, German Ulrich von Cilli, Hungarian: Cillei Ulrik), last prince of Celje principality, was assassinated in Belgrade.

1492 – Peace of Etaples between Henry VII and Charles VIII.

1494 – The Family de’ Medici were expelled from Florence.

1520 – More than 50 people are sentenced and executed in the Stockholm Bloodbath

1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

1688 – The Glorious Revolution: William of Orange captures Exeter.

1697 – Pope Innocent XII founds the city of Cervia.

1720 – The synagogue of Yehudah he-Hasid is burned down by Arab creditors, leading to the expulsion of the Ashkenazim from Jerusalem.

1729 – Spain, France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Seville.

1764 – Mary Campbell, a captive of the Lenape during the French and Indian War, is turned over to forces commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet.

1791 – Foundation of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen.

1793 – William Carey reaches the Hooghly River.

1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads the Coup d’etat of 18 Brumaire ending the Directory government, and becoming one of its three Consuls (Consulate Government).

1848 – Robert Blum, a German revolutionary, is executed in Vienna.

1851 – Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.

1857 – The Atlantic founded in Boston.

1861 – The first documented football match in Canada is played at University College, University of Toronto.

1862 – American Civil War: Union General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, after George B. McClellan is removed.

1867 – Tokugawa Shogunate hands power back to the Emperor of Japan, starting the Meiji Restoration.

1872 – The Great Boston Fire of 1872.

1887 – The United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1888 – Jack the Ripper kills Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim.

1906 – Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.

1907 – The Cullinan Diamond is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday.

1913 – The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people.

1914 – SMS Emden sunk by HMAS Sydney in the Battle of Cocos.

1917 – Joseph Stalin enters the provisional government of Bolshevik Russia.

1918 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.

1921 – Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect.

1923 – In Munich, Germany, police and government troops crush the Beer Hall Putsch in Bavaria. The failed coup is the work of the Nazis.

1932 – Riots between conservative and socialist supporters in Switzerland kill 12 and injure 60.

1935 – The Congress of Industrial Organizations is founded in Atlantic City, New Jersey by eight trade unions belonging to the American Federation of Labor.

1937 – Japanese troops take control of Shanghai, China.

1938 – Nazi German diplomat Ernst vom Rath dies from the fatal gunshot wounds of Jewish resistance fighter Herschel Grynszpan, an act which the Nazis used as an excuse to instigate the 1938 national pogrom, also known as Kristallnacht.

1940 – Warsaw is awarded the Virtuti Militari.

1945 – Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan is founded.

1947 – Junagadh is annexed as to Indian military intervention.

1953 – Cambodia becomes independent from France.

1960 – Robert McNamara is named president of Ford Motor Co., the first non-Ford to serve in that post. A month later, he quit to join the newly-elected John F. Kennedy administration.

1963 – At Miike coal mine, Miike, Japan, an explosion kills 458, and hospitalises 839 with carbon monoxide poisoning. Also, in Japan, a three-train disaster occurs in Yokohama, kills more than 160 people.

1965 – Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965.

1965 – Catholic Worker member Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.

1967 – Apollo program: NASA launches the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft atop the first Saturn V rocket from Cape Kennedy, Florida.

1967 – First issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published.

1970 – Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.

1979 – Nuclear false alarm: the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early warning radars, the alert is cancelled.

1985 – Garry Kasparov, 22, of the Soviet Union becomes the youngest World Chess Champion by beating Anatoly Karpov, also of the Soviet Union.

1989 – Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Communist-controlled East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany. This key event led to the eventual reunification of East and West Germany.

1990 – New democratic constitution is issued in Nepal.

1990 – Mary Robinson is elected Ireland’s first female President and the first from the Labour Party.

1993 – Stari most, the “old bridge” in Bosnian Mostar built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing.

1994 – The chemical element Darmstadtium is discovered.

1998 – Brokerage houses are ordered to pay 1.03 billion USD to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for their price-fixing. This is the largest civil settlement in United States history.

1998 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.

2005 – The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

2005 – Suicide bombers attacked three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing at least 60 people.

2007 – The German Bundestag passes the controversial data retention bill mandating storage of citizens’ telecommunications traffic data for six months without probable cause.

More Americans opt for high-deductible health insurance plans

Rising costs lead to a nearly threefold increase in the number of workers covered by the policies since 2006. Health experts worry about consumers who forgo preventive care.

By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times

November 9, 2010

Looking to save money in a weak economy, Americans increasingly are turning to health insurance plans with low premiums and high deductibles – prompting doctors and health experts to worry that consumers may be skipping routine care that could head off serious ailments.

Nationally, the number of workers with individual deductibles of at least $1,000 has nearly tripled over the last four years, reaching about 20 million, according to a recent survey of employers.

Some have pushed their deductibles as high as $10,000, and, to keep medical bills low, are forgoing colonoscopies, blood tests and other preventive procedures.

The five most dangerous countries for journalists

The brutal beating of Russian journalist Oleg Kashin outside his apartment building Nov. 6 draws renewed attention to the dangers that reporters face in many countries – including death, violence, imprisonment, exile, and threats to their families.

Ariel Zirulnick, Correspondent  

5. Mexico

Mexico is becoming one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work because of the ongoing drug war between the Mexican authorities and drug traffickers. Some 22 journalists have been killed and dozens have disappeared, been kidnapped, or exiled since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and declared war on the traffickers, according to a September 2010 report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

USA

Tax Cut Timing Is Proving Problematic for Democrats

POLITICAL MEMO

By JACKIE CALMES

Published: November 8, 2010

WASHINGTON – When one party controls the White House and Congress, it controls the calendar for what gets done and when. So how is it that Democrats ended up in such a fix over what to do about the expiring Bush-era tax cuts?

That is what many Democrats are asking.

By dint of calculation and miscalculation, after mixed messages and missed signals, President Obama and Congressional Democratic leaders delayed debate until before the midterm elections. They dared Republicans to fight for extending the tax cuts for the rich and, in so doing, “hold hostage” those for the middle class. But it was Democrats who blinked as their ranks splintered in the heat of a worsening electoral climate, and they delayed any vote until after the elections.

Some judges chastise banks over foreclosure paperwork



By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Staff Writer  

EAST PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – A year ago, Long Island Judge Jeffrey Spinner concluded that a mortgage company’s paperwork in a foreclosure case was so flawed and its behavior in negotiations with the borrower so “repugnant” that he erased the family’s $292,500 debt and gave the house back for free.

The judgment in favor of the homeowner, Diane Yano-Horoski, which is being appealed, has alarmed the nation’s biggest lenders, who say it could establish a dramatic new legal precedent and roil the nation’s foreclosure system.

Europe

Stockholm to investigate US embassy surveillance

Swedish prosecutor to look into alleged surveillance by embassy without Sweden’s knowledge

Associated Press

The Guardian, Tuesday 9 November 2010

A Swedish prosecutor is to investigate surveillance allegedly carried out by the US embassy in Stockholm without Sweden’s knowledge.

Prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said he would determine whether intelligence laws were violated by the US actions, including what officials described as photographing and gathering information about individuals in Sweden.

Swedish officials have said they knew the US embassy applied security measures in its immediate neighbourhood, but not that Swedish citizens were monitored. The embassy has denied the activities were secret.

Berlin excavation uncovers trove of sculptures confiscated by Nazis

The Irish Times – Tuesday, November 9, 2010  

DEREK SCALLY in Berlin

ELEVEN SCULPTURES branded “degenerate” and confiscated by the Nazis were unveiled in Berlin yesterday, seven decades after they were presumed lost in the second World War.

The sculptures, by artists such as Edwin Scharff and Karl Knappe, were unearthed in front of Berlin town hall during excavation work for an underground train line. After undergoing extensive cleaning, the works will go on display in Berlin’s Neues Museum this morning.

“Archaeology, as you can see, is always good for a surprise or two,” said Dr Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Culture Foundation, which manages Berlin’s cultural institutions.

Middle East

Hariri’s moment of truth nears



By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS – The situation in Lebanon is on the verge of a major explosion as a political tug-of-war continues between the March 14 coalition headed by Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and the opposition, headed by Hezbollah, over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

Both sides are struggling either to maintain – or cancel – the tribunal into the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Two weeks ago, Hezbollah was able to stop Lebanon’s state financing of the United Nations-backed court in parliament, claiming it had become politicized and was being used to target the arms, future and reputation of the Lebanese resistance.

his was a natural outcome to a massive public relations campaign carried out by Hezbollah in an attempt to expose the STL as “an Israeli project”. The court indictments, due anytime between late 2010 and early 2011, are expected to include senior members of Hezbollah.

Israel permits new settlement homes  

Interior ministry gives go-ahead for construction of more than a thousand new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.  

Last Modified: 09 Nov 2010    

Israel has given the go-ahead for the construction of more than one thousand new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee on Monday published details of a programme that allows 978 housing units to be built in Har Homa, an illegal Jewish settlement south of the city centre.

An additional 320 units are planned for Ramot, which also lies beyond the Green Line that virtually separates the eastern and western part of Jerusalem.

The move was announced as Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, visits the United States, where he met with Joe Biden, the US vice president, to discuss the peace process..

Asia

After 40,000 years, recognition for Aboriginal people beckons



By Kathy Marks in Sydney Tuesday, 9 November 2010

About 40,000 years after Aboriginal people settled in Australia, a referendum is to be held on whether to amend the constitution to recognise them as the country’s original inhabitants. The move, announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, follows her predecessor Kevin Rudd’s apology to the “Stolen Generations” of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families. It comes nearly 223 years after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney, heralding the colonisation of Australia by European settlers.

Refugees flee Burma after poll violence  

The Irish Times – Tuesday, November 9, 2010  

CLIFFORD COONAN in Beijing    

THOUSANDS OF refugees from Burma have fled into Thailand after fighting between ethnic rebels and Burmese government forces at the border following Sunday’s election.

The poll has been widely dismissed as a sham to boost the ruling military junta. Rights groups and commentators had widely predicted that the elections would increase conflict and instability in Burma, and on Sunday, rebels from the Karen ethnic group seized a police station and a post office in the border town of Myawaddy. At least 10 people were wounded on each side of the frontier in the fighting.

Africa

Deaths in Western Sahara camp raid  



Raid by Moroccan forces on a Western Sahara protest camp leaves four dead and scores injured, on the eve of peace talks.

Aljazeera

At least four people have been killed and 70 injured in a raid by Moroccan forces on a protest camp in the disputed region of Western Sahara, sources on both rival sides have said.

The Gdaim Izik camp, which houses 12,000 Saharawi refugess, had sprung up outside Laayoune, the main town in Western Sahara, four weeks ago, in protest against the deterioration of living conditions in the area.

The violence, which later spread to the streets of Laayoune itself,  comes on the eve of talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front movement, which seeks independence for the Western Sahara, in the US aimed at ending the conflict over the region.

Protestors, including women and children, said security forces attempting to shut down the camp used tear gas and beat them with batons.

Opposition closes ranks in Côte d’Ivoire run-off vote



ABIDJAN, CôTE D’IVOIRE

Opposition leaders in Côte d’Ivoire closed ranks on Sunday behind the remaining challenger to President Laurent Gbagbo in the presidential race, after efforts to force a recount of the first round failed.

Former president Henri Konan Bedie, who came third in the first round and was thus eliminated from the run-off, on Sunday called on his supporters to vote for former prime minister Alassane Ouattara in the second-round vote.

In a surprise move late on Saturday, the Constitutional Council had announced definitive results from the first round of polling on October 31 that placed Gbagbo ahead.

Latin America

Haiti tests for cholera in Port-au-Prince

At least 120 people in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, are being tested for cholera, health officials say.



Doctors have told the BBC the disease is “clinically” present in the city, but there is no official confirmation.

The health ministry says 544 people have died in Haiti’s latest cholera outbreak. About 8,000 are being treated in hospitals.

There have been fears cholera would reach the crowded capital since the outbreak began to the north in October.

The water-borne disease has already spread to half of Haiti’s 10 regions, and the number of those killed has risen by more than 100 in less than one week.

Authorities feared the outbreak could worsen after Hurricane Tomas brought heavy rains last week which triggered mudslidesand flooding.

Ignoring Asia A Blog

A good night to nap.  Broadcast premiers.  Keith due back tomorrow.  Greenwald on O’Donnell (maybe).

Damn it Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I’m already thinking of Wednesday… It is Monday right?

• ABC Family– Evan Almighty
• AMC– Wild Wild West, Tremors (my favorite Kevin Bacon movie ever)
• Bravo– Real Housewives marathon
• Comedy– Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
• Disney– Ella Enchanted
• Discovery– Sr. v. Jr. x 2
• ESPN– Throwball, Steelers @ Bengals
• Food– Best Thing I Ever Ate (premier)
• FX– Man on Fire (not the good 1987 version)
• Lifetime– Baby for Sale
• TBS– Family Guy night
• Turner Classic– Traffic in Souls, The Indian Massacre (shhhh)
• TLC– Cake Boss (premier)
• Toon– Robotomy (Series Premier), Regular Show, MAD, Total Drama World Tour (premiers)
• Vs.– Coyotes @ Red Wings
• Spike– Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones x 2
• TV Land– My Cousin Vinny

You see? When the left tire mark goes up on the curb and the right tire mark stays flat and even? Well, the ’64 Skylark had a solid rear axle, so when the left tire would go up on the curb, the right tire would tilt out and ride along its edge. But that didn’t happen here. The tire mark stayed flat and even. This car had an independent rear suspension. Now, in the ’60’s, there were only two other cars made in America that had positraction, and independent rear suspension, and enough power to make these marks. One was the Corvette, which could never be confused with the Buick Skylark. The other had the same body length, height, width, weight, wheel base, and wheel track as the ’64 Skylark, and that was the 1963 Pontiac Tempest.

We have to keep out faith in the Republic. The day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it.

Later-

• AMC– Airplane!
• Turner Classic– The Birth of a Nation (shhhh.  Yup, D.W. Griffith’s racist celebration of the Ku Klux Klan)
• USA– Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins x 2

Dave hosts Harrison Ford and Cee Lo Green.  Jon has Rick Perry, Stephen Reza Aslan.  Double Alton, Squash and Sweet Potatos.

Series Premier of Conan on TBS.  He hosts Seth Rogan and Jack White.

Boondocks– Thank You for Not Snitching

Elaine, you’re a member of this crew. Can you face some unpleasant facts?

No.

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Violence breaks out in Myanmar after election

AFP

Mon Nov 8, 12:00 pm ET

2 Myanmar counts votes in poll marred by fraud fears

Sun Nov 7, 6:38 pm ET

3 Thousands flee Myanmar clashes after election

AFP

Mon Nov 8, 7:18 am ET

4 German police, activists gear up for nuclear showdown

by Frederic Happe, AFP

33 mins ago

5 German police remove nuclear waste train protesters

AFP

Mon Nov 8, 3:51 am ET

6 Sniffer ‘hero rats’ saving lives in minefields and labs

by Otto Bakano, AFP

Mon Nov 8, 12:24 pm ET

7 Obama backs India’s drive for UN power

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

1 hr 50 mins ago

8 Guinea votes in historic presidential run-off

by Laurence Boutreux, AFP

Sun Nov 7, 5:51 pm ET

9 Vettel wins Brazilian Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi to decide title

by Gordon Howard, AFP

Sun Nov 7, 1:50 pm ET

10 Pope calls cardinals to Rome for abuse talks

by Dario Thuburn, AFP

Mon Nov 8, 12:05 pm ET

11 Iraq leaders fail to resolve political deadlock

by Abdul Hamid Zebari, AFP

Mon Nov 8, 10:42 am ET

12 Iraqi rivals in bid to end political deadlock

by Abdul Hamid Zebari, AFP

Mon Nov 8, 6:44 am ET

13 Pakistan investigate missing wicket-keeper Haider

by Shahid Hashmi, AFP

Mon Nov 8, 9:15 am ET

14 Qantas extends A380 groundings over oil leaks

by Talek Harris, AFP

Mon Nov 8, 8:14 am ET

15 World Bank chief calls for gold to anchor forex

AFP

Mon Nov 8, 6:01 am ET

16 Myanmar army-backed parties set to sweep rare poll

By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 12:56 pm ET

17 BP, firms did not cut safety over money: panel

By Ayesha Rascoe, Reuters

19 mins ago

Bullshit.

18 Rolls says progress made in Qantas A380 engine probe

By Rhys Jones and Michael Smith, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 1:35 pm ET

19 Obama backs India’s quest for U.N. permanent seat

By Patricia Zengerle and Alistair Scrutton, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 9:06 am ET

20 Obama returns fire after China slams Fed’s move

By Patricia Zengerle and Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 8:59 am ET

21 Papandreou rules out early Greek election

By Ingrid Melander and Harry Papachristou, Reuters

Sun Nov 7, 7:38 pm ET

22 Car bombs kill 15, including Iranians, in Iraq

By Aseel Kami, Reuters

2 hrs 42 mins ago

23 U.S. QE2 decision not a good one: Eurogroup head

By Jan Strupczewski, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 12:19 pm ET

24 Geithner: Beijing supportive of G20 rebalancing effort

By David Lawder, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 9:41 am ET

25 Myanmar clash a reminder of old, underlying tension

By Robert Birsel, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 8:26 am ET

26 Panel: Dollars did not trump safety in Gulf spill

By DINA CAPPIELLO and SETH BORENSTEIN, Associated Press

58 mins ago

More Bullshit.

27 Obama boosts India for ‘rightful place in world’

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

1 hr 53 mins ago

28 Bush is back, and eager to help history judge him

By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

1 hr 7 mins ago

29 Family health history a powerful, underused tool

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

1 hr 52 mins ago

30 NFL knows how to do drama

By BARRY WILNER, AP Pro Football Writer

50 mins ago

31 Signs of political progress as Iraqi leaders meet

By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 2:13 pm ET

32 Qantas CEO: Oil leaks in 3 engines of its A380s

By KRISTEN GELINEAU and SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press

37 mins ago

33 MSNBC says Olbermann will be back on air Tuesday

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

Mon Nov 8, 6:30 am ET

34 Broadband usage growing even as gaps persist

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer

Mon Nov 8, 1:54 pm ET

35 Murkowski on cusp of win; how will she legislate?

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 6:30 am ET

36 Gates, Obama urge repeal of military’s gay ban

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press

Sun Nov 7, 10:22 pm ET

37 Lawyers say proving egg-related lawsuits difficult

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 3:14 am ET

38 Republicans in charge take aim at health overhaul

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press

Sun Nov 7, 10:21 pm ET

39 15,000 refugees flee Myanmar post-vote fighting

Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 1:23 pm ET

40 Mo. corrects record on 1923 college-town lynching

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press

36 mins ago

41 Hearing set in Afghanistan ‘thrill kill’ case

By GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press

1 hr 57 mins ago

42 Technology a blessing, a curse for remote island

By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer

Mon Nov 8, 12:14 pm ET

43 APNewsBreak: Georgia details nuclear smuggling

By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 3:39 am ET

“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.

Andy Worthington: No Appetite for Prosecution: In Memoir, Bush Admits He Authorized the Use of Torture, But No One Cares

With just days to go before George W. Bush’s memoir, Decision Points, hits bookstores (on November 9), and with reports on the book’s contents doing the rounds after review copies were made available to the New York Times and Reuters, it will be interesting to see how many media outlets allow the former President the opportunity to try to salvage his reputation, how many are distracted by his spat with Kanye West or his claim that he thought about replacing Dick Cheney as Vice President in 2004, and how many decide that, on balance, it would be more honest to remind readers and viewers of the former President’s many crimes – including the illegal invasion of Iraq, and the authorization of the use of torture on “high-value detainees” seized in the “War on Terror.”

As I fall firmly into the latter camp, this article focuses on what little has so far emerged regarding the President’s views on Guantánamo, and, in particular, on his confession that he authorized the waterboarding of “high-value detainee” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which is rather more important than trading blows with a rapper about whether or not his response to the Katrina disaster was racist, as it is a crime under domestic and international law.

Nancy J. Altman: New York Times Columnist Peter Orszag Joins the Social Security Fearmongering Crowd

Former OMB Director Peter Orszag writes a tin-eared response to the elections, in his NYT op-ed, “Saving Social Security.”

Tuesday’s election gave expression to a deep frustration that Washington is not listening to Main Street. This frustration seems reasonable after reading the tin-eared response to the elections penned by former OMB Director Peter Orszag, in his recent opinion piece with its fear-mongering title, “Saving Social Security.”

Social Security is not in need of saving. It is the most fiscally responsible part of the entire federal budget. Its benefits are modest, averaging less than the minimum wage. It is extremely efficient, returning in benefits more than 99 cents of every dollar spent. At its most expensive, when the Baby Boom generation is fully retired, Social Security will cost half as much, in terms of percentage of GDP, that France, Germany and many other countries are paying for their counterpart programs right now, today. Its projected deficit, still decades away, is manageable in size – just 0.7 percent of GDP, about the same amount as extending the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of Americans. (Paradoxically, Orszag recently penned a piece advocating the extension of those tax cuts)

Barry Eisler: The Definition of Insanity

Last month, the Washington Post published an op-ed by Jack Devine, former CIA deputy director of operations and chief of the CIA Afghan Task Force. When I read it, I thought it was perhaps the most insane op-ed I’d ever come across. But leave it to David Broder, “Dean of the Washington Press Corps,” to try to one-up it just three weeks later.

Let’s take Devine’s piece first. Devine argues that our top priority in Afghanistan must be capturing or killing bin Laden. Devine asks, “We have entered into two problematic wars and have expended a great deal of blood and treasure since Sept. 11. What was it all about, if not capturing bin Laden?”

I think I know now why invading Iraq was “problematic.” You see, bin Laden wasn’t in Iraq. No wonder we can’t find the guy. . . .

And now, Broder.

There’s less to say about Broder’s piece, but only because he expresses his insanity more succinctly than does Devine. First, he lays out his premise: war and peace are the only forces influencing the economy that the president can control. Second, his evidence: World War II resolved the Great Depression. Finally, his slam dunk conclusion: Obama should take America to war with Iran (Congressional declarations of war are so pre-9/11) because war with Iran will improve America’s economy.

Gary Younge: The Tea Party is not new, or coherent. It’s merely old whine in new bottles

This incoherent group has no leaders, no policies, no headquarters. It is held together by Fox TV and big money

What we witnessed on Tuesday was not a realignment of American politics but the first real test of the reconfiguration of the balance of forces in the American right. Exit polls show an electorate even more polarised than two years ago, where registered independents swung to Republicans but self-described moderates continued to back the Democrats. Sixty per cent of the seats that the Democrats lost were in districts where John McCain beat Obama in 2008.

Last December I interviewed Rand Paul, after he addressed about 12 people in a small town in Leitchfield, Kentucky, and asked what the Tea Party meant to him. “I call it the national open mic movement,” he joked. “It’s kind of good in a way. Some people were tired of not being able to speak their piece. But I don’t think it has a cohesion yet. It’s yet to be seen whether it can transform itself.”

Back then Paul was a rank outsider; now he is a senator-elect. The Tea Party still has no cohesion, but it has been transformed. Not from the inside or below, but from the outside and above. Its name reflects a popular mood, its actions reflect an elite capability.

Robert Freeman: Obama Was Used, And Is Now Used Up

Barack Obama was used. Of course, he knew he was being used when he made the deal. But what he didn’t know was how quickly he would be used up. Now he has to face two years of humiliation knowing that he betrayed the people and the country he claimed to champion – and knowing that everyone else knows it as well – but also knowing that he’s gotten what’s coming to him.

Obama made a deal to get the job in the first place. The deal was that he would carry on with Bush’s bailout of the banks, with Bush’s two wars, with Bush’s suppression of civil liberties, that he wouldn’t prosecute or even investigate any of the enormous fraud that had brought down the country, or the lies that had railroaded it into war.

Even before he took office, he began fulfilling his end of the bargain. He appointed Larry Summers head of the National Economic Council. It was Summers, more than any other person, who was responsible for dismantling the Glass-Steagall regulations that had acted as a firebreak against banks looting the country since the Great Depression. Summers had made millions consulting for hedge funds before taking the office.

Steve Almond: Jon Stewart, Opiate of the Masses

I realize this is going to put me in some pretty unsavory company, but here goes: I didn’t like Jon Stewart’s rousing speech at the end of his Rally to Restore Sanity. I found it cowardly and even a little heartbreaking.

I’ll get to why in a minute, but let me say first that I have been, for many years, a big fan of Stewart and his evil twin, Stephen Colbert. They’re both brilliant comedians and, when they choose to be, powerful advocates of reason.Stewart’s systematic dismantling of insurance company shill Betsy McCaughey, for instance, was a crucial bit of public theater that helped put to rest the myth of Death Panels. Colbert’s upbraiding of both George W. Bush and the lapdog media that enabled him at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was a genuine act of heroism. So when Stewart and Colbert announced their joint rally, I was as excited as the next disaffected progressive. The more cultural bandwidth these guys get, I figured, the more sensible our discourse will become.

Standing For Nothing.

Look, if Democrats can’t repeal a policy more than two thirds of the American people, including a majority of conservatives want gone then they can’t expect people to vote for them. Preserving DADT is rank absurdity, even in 1993 the RAND study commissioned by the government showed that combat effectiveness would not be harmed by allowing openly gay servicemembers to serve, and the fact that DADT investigations are sometimes delayed when servicemembers are deployed undermines the notion that openly gay servicemembers harm the war effort.

The plain fact of the matter is that DADT undermines the military by forcing discharges of servicemembers with critical skills and walling off an entire section of the population from recruitment. The only remaining arguments for preserving DADT are premised on archaic cultural attitudes towards homosexuality, and Republicans’ insistence on undermining the military by preserving repeal is vanity, a projection of their own superficial prejudices onto the very servicemembers they claim to respect.

(h/t Atrios)

Let me explain slowly and clearly-

The problem is overcapacity and lack of aggregate demand.

Austerity by definition means less spending and less aggregate demand.

Irish Debt Woes Revive Concern About Europe

By LANDON THOMAS Jr., The New York Times

Published: November 7, 2010

LONDON – When interest rates soared last week on Irish government bonds, it served as a grim warning to other indebted nations of how difficult and even politically ruinous it could be to roll back decades of public sector largess.

An Irish bond market already in free fall plunged further after Ireland announced on Thursday that it planned to nearly double its package of spending cuts and tax increases to try to rein in its huge deficit. Investors took it not as a sign of resolve but rather of Ireland’s desperation and uncertainty about the true extent of its problems.

…

A year ago, as cascading mortgage defaults brought down the biggest Irish banks, Ireland became the first major developed nation to impose an austerity program. The country was hailed worldwide as an exemplar of probity and national consensus.

But as the full extent of the banking and real estate bust became evident, it was clear that the government of Prime Minister Cowen, which has been in power since the onset of the crisis more than two years ago, had underestimated the cost of fiscal recovery. Now the possibility that he will be forced from office or compelled to call a new election grows by the day.

…

The British chancellor, George Osborne, perhaps the keenest deficit hawk among policy makers in the developed nations, was taken to task last week by lawmakers. They accused him of exaggerating the extent of the country’s fiscal problems to justify broad cuts in middle-class benefits like universal payments to parents with children.

“How many children will be forced to leave their homes?” demanded one furious member of Parliament. “Will the numbers of homeless increase or decrease under your government? Will there be a reduction in special needs education for children in our schools?”

Pitchforks.

I’m reliably informed Keith will be back tomorrow.

Monday Business Edition

Following the economic story is a trifle confusing because there are at least 2 threads to it.  One of those threads is the failure of our financial institutions and their systematic culture of fraud.

But another thread is the failure of academic economists and Washington policy makers to correctly diagnose and take action on our National economic problems.

Let me start by saying that what we are seeing in the United States macro economy is a textbook example of the complete and utter failure of Monetary Policy from Milton Friedman to Alan Greenspan.  What ails us is overcapacity and a lack of aggregate demand.  Businesses are making everything that anyone will pay for and could easily make much, much more at little marginal cost.

They are sitting on piles of cash which they are currently using to buy sort term treasuries at 0% interest (a safe way of parking it not investing it), stock repurchases, mergers and acquisitions, expanding overseas operations, and other non productive pursuits; non productive in this case meaning- Not Increasing U.S. Aggregate Demand.

Now the textbook response to a situation like this is for the Government to step in as a purchaser of last resort- Dig Holes.  Fill them up.  At least you’re putting money in people’s pockets and because of the Multiplier Effect Aggregate Demand will rise and your National economy will pick up.  Tested and proven.

Indeed, this is exactly the argument David Broder uses for advocating War with Iran!

Umm… aggressive warfare for economic gain is pretty specifically a war crime Dave.

But it does validate the idea of Government fiscal policy as a tool for jump starting the economy.

Instead of that we are pursuing a policy of pushing on a string.  The object of Bernake’s $600 Billion repurchase is to create negative interest rates in the hopes that losing money by keeping it parked in T-Bills will spur investment.

A thin hope at best and as Krugman points out, by foregoing the chance to create increased expectations of inflation in general we are reducing that incentive.

Doing It Again

By PAUL KRUGMAN, The New York Times

Published: November 7, 2010

Eight years ago Ben Bernanke, already a governor at the Federal Reserve although not yet chairman, spoke at a conference honoring Milton Friedman. He closed his talk by addressing Friedman’s famous claim that the Fed was responsible for the Great Depression, because it failed to do what was necessary to save the economy.

“You’re right,” said Mr. Bernanke, “we did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again.”

…

For the big concern about quantitative easing isn’t that it will do too much; it is that it will accomplish too little. Reasonable estimates suggest that the Fed’s new policy is unlikely to reduce interest rates enough to make more than a modest dent in unemployment. The only way the Fed might accomplish more is by changing expectations – specifically, by leading people to believe that we will have somewhat above-normal inflation over the next few years, which would reduce the incentive to sit on cash.

The idea that higher inflation might help isn’t outlandish; it has been raised by many economists, some regional Fed presidents and the International Monetary Fund. But in the same remarks in which he defended his new policy, Mr. Bernanke – clearly trying to appease the inflationistas – vowed not to change the Fed’s price target: “I have rejected any notion that we are going to try to raise inflation to a super-normal level in order to have effects on the economy.”

And there goes the best hope that the Fed’s plan might actually work.

Think of it this way: Mr. Bernanke is getting the Obama treatment, and making the Obama response. He’s facing intense, knee-jerk opposition to his efforts to rescue the economy. In an effort to mute that criticism, he’s scaling back his plans in such a way as to guarantee that they’ll fail.

Business News below-

1 World Bank chief calls for gold to anchor forex

AFP

1 hr 22 mins ago

Fuck.  It’s going to take me a whole other fucking diary to explain how incredibly fucking stupid an idea this is.

2 Japan’s Skymark to buy up to six Airbus A380s

by Karyn Poupee, AFP

2 hrs 18 mins ago

3 Qantas extends A380 groundings over oil leaks

by Talek Harris, AFP

Mon Nov 8, 3:58 am ET

4 iPhone triggers videogame gold rush

by Fabrice Hoss, AFP

Sun Nov 7, 3:09 pm ET

5 Get rich quick trumps market reform: analysts

by Luc Olinga, AFP

Sun Nov 7, 1:32 am ET

6 Coal India issue could boost future state sales

by Salil Panchal, AFP

Sun Nov 7, 1:11 am ET

7 China offers to support Portugal but no debt pledge

by Levi Fernandes, AFP

Sun Nov 7, 2:50 pm ET

8 China’s Hu calls for Portuguese cooperation on reform agenda

by Anne Le Coz, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 5:04 pm ET

9 Obama savors 10 billion dollar India trade bonanza

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 2:06 pm ET

10 China’s Hu seals France ties ahead of G20

by Roland Lloyd Parry, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 1:02 pm ET

11 Zimbabwe gem smuggling fuels cross border dealer hub

by Justine Gerardy, AFP

Sun Nov 7, 7:16 pm ET

12 APEC looks to safeguard growth, ease currency tension

by David Watkins, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 8:57 am ET

13 G20 finds common ground opposing U.S.

By Emily Kaiser, Reuters

Sun Nov 7, 3:02 pm ET

14 Obama fires back after China slates Fed’s QE2

By Patricia Zengerle and Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters

Mon Nov 8, 5:00 am ET

15 Shell puts Woodside in play with $3 billion stake sale

By Michael Smith and Tom Bergin, Reuters

2 hrs 27 mins ago

16 Qantas extends A380 grounding as it probes oil leaks

By Michael Smith and Balazs Koranyi, Reuters

48 mins ago

17 World Bank chief surprises with gold standard idea

Reuters

1 hr 37 mins ago

18 Stocks seek direction post-Fed and elections

By Chuck Mikolajczak, Reuters

Sun Nov 7, 11:30 am ET

19 APEC ponders free trade area as frictions loom

By Yoko Nishikawa and Linda Sieg, Reuters

Sun Nov 7, 6:04 am ET

20 China offers to help Portugal but silent on debt

By Shrikesh Laxmidas and Kevin Yao Shrikesh, Reuters

Sun Nov 7, 11:46 am ET

21 Buffett derivative bet pushes Berkshire to loss

By Ben Berkowitz, Reuters

Fri Nov 5, 7:06 pm ET

22 Bernanke answers Fed’s global critics

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa, Reuters

Fri Nov 5, 6:28 pm ET

23 U.S. eyes new rules for market after "flash crash"

By Christopher Doering and Rachelle Younglai, Reuters

Fri Nov 5, 3:46 pm ET

24 AIG loses more than $2 billion after asset sales

By Ben Berkowitz, Reuters

Fri Nov 5, 3:45 pm ET

25 Qantas CEO: Oil leaks in 3 engines of its A380s

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press

2 hrs 1 min ago

26 Vt. nuke plant closes after radioactive water leak

By DAVE GRAM, Associated Press

2 hrs 3 mins ago

27 China suffers diesel shortage, disrupting industry

By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer

1 hr 26 mins ago

28 UK’s Cameron visits China seeking trade, influence

By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press

2 hrs 35 mins ago

29 Greek PM vows to press ahead with austerity

By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 2:42 am ET

30 APEC debates becoming body that can forge FTA

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 1:25 am ET

31 Lawyers say proving egg-related lawsuits difficult

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press

Mon Nov 8, 3:14 am ET

32 Broadband usage growing even as gaps persist

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer

2 hrs 16 mins ago

33 Economy recovering, but recession’s shadow is long

By RACHEL BECK and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writers

Sat Nov 6, 11:29 pm ET

34 Web browser pioneer backs new way to surf Internet

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer

Sun Nov 7, 4:35 pm ET

35 Small banks failing as larger firms regain health

By MARCY GORDON and DANIEL WAGNER, AP Business Writers

Sun Nov 7, 3:06 pm ET

36 Homeowners say loan mods led them to foreclosure

By JACOB ADELMAN, Associated Press

Sun Nov 7, 3:08 pm ET

37 Russian reporter in coma after beating in Moscow

By LYNN BERRY, Associated Press

Sat Nov 6, 1:18 pm ET

38 ‘Staff of life’ wavers under weight of humanity

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

Sun Nov 7, 12:02 am ET

39 Obama: US elections force ‘midcourse corrections’

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

Sun Nov 7, 2:12 pm ET

40 Textbook rentals no cure for rising college costs

By CRISTIAN SALAZAR, Associated Press

Sat Nov 6, 1:08 pm ET

41 The rise of the surgical shopper

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and RACHEL BECK, AP Business Writers

Sun Nov 7, 9:42 pm ET

42 Technology a blessing, a curse for remote island

By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer

Sun Nov 7, 3:21 pm ET

43 Asia resists US push to target trade surpluses

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press

Fri Nov 5, 10:46 pm ET

44 Fannie Mae asks for $2.5 billion in new US aid

By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer

Fri Nov 5, 10:43 pm ET

45 Berkshire’s 3Q net income falls on derivatives

By JOSH FUNK, AP Business Writer

Fri Nov 5, 8:36 pm ET

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

November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 53 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1793 the Louvre opens as a public museum. After more than two centuries as a royal palace, the Louvre is opened as a public museum in Paris by the French revolutionary government. Today, the Louvre’s collection is one of the richest in the world, with artwork and artifacts representative of 11,000 years of human civilization and culture.

The Musée du Louvre or officially Grand Louvre – in English the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world’s largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris and located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet).

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture. In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie

remained at the Louvre for 100 years. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation’s masterpieces.

The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being confiscated church and royal property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The size of the collection increased under Napoleon when the museum was renamed the Musée Napoleon. After his defeat at Waterloo, many works seized by Napoleon’s armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic, except during the two World Wars. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

 1519 – Hernan Cortes enters Tenochtitlan and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration.

1520 – Stockholm Bloodbath begins: A successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces results in the execution of around 100 people.

1576 – Eighty Years’ War: Pacification of Ghent – The States-General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation.

1602 – The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened to the public.

1620 – The Battle of White Mountain takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours.

1745 – Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of ~5000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.

1793 – In Paris, the French Revolutionary government opens the Louvre to the public as a museum.

1837 – Mary Lyon founds Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later becomes Mount Holyoke College.

1861 – American Civil War: The “Trent Affair” – The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.

1889 – Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.

1892 – The New Orleans general strike begins, uniting black and white American trade unionists in a successful four-day general strike action for the first time.

1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Rontgen discovers the X-ray.

   * 1901 – Bloody clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek.

1917 – The People’s Commissars give authority to Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin.

1923 – Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.

1932 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the 32d President of the United States defeating Herbert Hoover.

1933 – Great Depression: New Deal – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.

1935 – A dozen labor leaders come together to announce the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), an organization charged with advancing industrial unionism.

1937 – The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude (“The Eternal Jew”) opens in Munich.

1939 – Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.

1939 – In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes the assassination attempt of Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

1941 – The Albanian Communist Party is founded.

1942 – World War II: Operation Torch – United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.

1942 – World War II: French resistance coup in Algiers, in which 400 civilian French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps after 15 hours of fighting, and arrest several Vichyst generals, allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers.

1950 – Korean War: United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, while piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history.

1957 – Operation Grapple X, Round C1: Britain conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific.

1965 – The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands.

1965 – The Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom.

1965 – The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of the first set-piece engagements of the war between Australian forces and the Vietcong at the Battle of Gang Toi.

1966 – Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate.

1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League.

1973 – The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay 2.9 million USD.

1976 – A series of earthquakes spreads panic in the city of Thessaloniki, which is evacuated.

1977 – Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.

1987 – Remembrance Day Bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland during a ceremony honouring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and sixty-three wounded.

2002 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face “serious consequences”.

2003 – The Harris Theater opens, commencing a renaissance in the Chicago performing arts community.

2004 – War in Iraq: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

A fresh slate at the Pentagon for Obama

President’s choices could have lasting consequences for national security agenda

By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON – With critical decisions ahead on the war in Afghanistan, President Obama is about to receive an unusual opportunity to reshape the Pentagon’s leadership, naming a new defense secretary as well as several top generals and admirals in the next several months.

It is a rare confluence of tenure calendars and personal calculations, coming midway through Mr. Obama’s first term and on the heels of an election that challenged his domestic policies. His choices could have lasting consequences for his national security agenda, perhaps strengthening his hand over a military with which he has often clashed, and are likely to have an effect beyond the next election, whetherhe wins or loses.

Nuclear bomb material found for sale on Georgia black market

Exclusive: Georgia trial reveals how sting netted highly enriched uranium that had been smuggled via train inside lead-lined cigarette box

Julian Borger in Tbilisi  

Highly enriched uranium that could be used to make a nuclear bomb is on sale on the black market along the fringes of the former Soviet Union, according to evidence emerging from a secret trial in Georgia.

Two Armenians, a businessman and a physicist, have pleaded guilty to smuggling highly enriched uranium (HEU) into Georgia in March, stashing it in a lead-lined package on a train from Yerevan to Tbilisi.

Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, informed other heads of state of the sting operation at a nuclear summit in Washington in April, but no details about the case have been made public until now.  

USA

Now in Power, G.O.P. Vows Cuts in State Budgets



By MONICA DAVEY and MICHAEL LUO

Published: November 7, 2010

Republicans who have taken over state capitols across the country are promising to respond to crippling budget deficits with an array of cuts, among them proposals to reduce public workers’ benefits in Wisconsin, scale back social services in Maine and sell off state liquor stores in Pennsylvania, endangering the jobs of thousands of state workers. States face huge deficits, even after several grueling years of them, and just as billions of dollars in stimulus money from Washington is drying up.

For many businesses, 2010 midterm election campaign was a winner



By Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam

Washington Post Staff Writers  

The 2010 election season was good for Design Cuisine of Arlington, which took in more than $500,000 in catering fees. The Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif., made about $50,000 holding Republican fundraisers.  And at Butterfield’s Golf Car Sales in Montvale, Va., owner David Helms rang up $300 in cart rentals for the campaign of Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R).

“That may pay for the light bill for about a week,” Helms said. “But we’ll certainly take it.”

Europe

Russian outrage over new attack on journalist



By Shaun Walker in Moscow Monday, 8 November 2010



The Russian authorities yesterday faced demands to prosecute the attackers of a journalist branded a “traitor” by a youth organisation linked to the country’s ruling party.

Oleg Kashin, 30, a reporter for the Kommersant daily, was set upon by two unknown assailants late on Friday. They apparently waited for him with a bunch of flowers outside the doorway of his apartment block in Moscow.

Mr Kashin, who covered youth political movements for the newspaper and was one of its best-known reporters, was beaten, leaving him with a broken leg and jaw and a fractured skull. He remained in an induced coma in a hospital in Moscow yesterday.

Pope denounces gay marriage and abortion in Spain

The Irish Times – Monday, November 8, 2010  

JANE WALKER in Madrid

POPE BENEDICT has denounced abortion and gay marriage, recently legalised in Spain, at a Mass to consecrate Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia church as a basilica in another criticism of what he called Spain’s “aggressive secularism”.

The service at the still unfinished building was attended by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, but not by the prime minister.

Although Mass has been held in one of the crypts of the building in the past, yesterday’s Mass was the first to be celebrated in the newly consecrated main church nave.

Queen Sofia received communion from the pope, but King Juan Carlos did not. Three hundred priests emerged through the main door to distribute the Eucharist to the thousands of faithful in the streets outside.

Middle East

Police demolition of mosque incites riot as Israeli Arabs vow to rebuild

The Irish Times – Monday, November 8, 2010

MARK WEISS in Jerusalem

RIOTS ERUPTED at the weekend in the southern Israeli Arab city of Rahat as security forces destroyed a mosque.

Some 700 police in full riot gear used tear gas to disperse crowds who threw stones to try and prevent the demolition.

Residents observed a general strike yesterday in protest at the action, and large numbers of police remained in the Bedouin city of 52,000 last night to prevent fresh disturbances. Shortly after the demolition, residents began rebuilding the mosque.

Police claimed the mosque was constructed illegally with funds provided by the northern branch of Israel’s anti-Zionist Islamic movement. The destruction was carried out after a court ruled the building took place on state land without a permit.

Iraqi leaders expected to form government

Iraqi leaders are expected to announce a national unity government at the end of a conference of major political parties, heralding the end of an eight month period of stalemate since the general election in March.  

By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent  

An upsurge in sectarian violence and growing anger over the payment of the world’s best parliamentary salaries to MPs that had met just once since the vote has put party leaders under increasing pressure to seal a power sharing deal.

A spokesman for Nouri al-Maliki, the serving prime minister, claimed an agreement had been struck for him to remain in office.

Iraqiya, his main opponents who won most seats in the March election, denied that names had been agreed for for individual posts.

Asia

Burma poll marked by threats and low turnout

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy opts out of taking part in election

By Andrew Buncombe and Phoebe Kennedy in Rangoon

Monday, 8 November 2010

Burma’s first election in 20 years was marked by low-turn out and reluctant voters yesterday as many people appeared to have decided there was little point participating in a poll considered skewed from the start.

In cities such as Rangoon, the former capital, turn-out may have been as little as 30 per cent, some sources said, despite threats from the military authorities that people could be jailed if they failed to vote. Armed police and troops were patrolling the streets.

China builds a ‘new Silk Road’ to pave over its troubles  

The restive Urumqi area of western China is being cemented to Beijing by a billion-dollar investment into rail, road and air links.  

By David Eimer in Urumqi  

The new Silk Road begins and ends in the bustle of the vast Hualing Wholesale Mall in Urumqi, the desert-ringed capital of Xinjiang Province in the far west of China. To the shoppers who flock here from the eight other countries that Xinjiang borders, it is a retail paradise where the prices are up to 100% cheaper than at home – be it for CD players and cookers or TVs and toys.

Now Beijing is planning a multi-billion dollar expansion of the province’s rail, road and air links, turning it into a key trading hub with central Asia, Russia and the Middle East – just as it was a thousand years ago when the Silk Road connected China to the outside world.

Africa

A lesson for Africa?  

If southern Sudan secedes from Khartoum it could send a message to other separatist groups on the continent.

Thembisa Fakude  

The past decade has seen the emergence of a number of new countries. But, with the exception of East Timor – which became the 21st century’s first new sovereign state on May 20, 2002 – they are all still struggling to gain full recognition.

So what motivates constituencies within states to opt for independence?

The reasons vary from place to place. In Eastern Europe, Russia and the countries neighbouring it came together to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) largely for economic and military reasons. But after the establishment of the UN in 1945 and subsequent treaties guaranteeing security and peace, most countries within the USSR gradually started to denounce the union in favour of democratic and independent statehood. Repressive laws and adverse economic conditions further encouraged this.

Latin America

20 killed over weekend in Mexican border city

Seven were slain outside a home where people attended a party, Chihuahua state officials say. Eleven others were also killed Saturday, and two police officers were shot to death Sunday.

Associated Press

November 8, 2010

At least 20 people were killed in drug-gang violence over the weekend in this northern border city, including seven found dead outside one house.

The seven men were believed to have been at a family party when they were gunned down Saturday night, said Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office in Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located. Five were found dead in a car, and the other two were shot at the entrance http://

Ignoring Asia A Blog