Nov 04 2010

Morning Shinbun Thursday November 4




Thursday’s Headlines:

Clara Barton’s D.C. home and office may be converted into museum

USA

Richard Wolffe: Democrat doom may turn to delight as Tea Party politics kick in

Republicans Face a Fundamental Choice in How to Oppose

Europe

BBC apologises to Bob Geldof over Band Aid claims

Sarkozy had ‘surveillance unit spy on journalists’

Middle East

After Baghdad bombings, Iraqis have harsh words for security forces

Asia

Six years later, army to pull out of Timor

The war to come in Myanmar

Africa

The ‘Gap kids’ you won’t see in the adverts

Is the Case Against Charles Taylor Falling Apart?

Spending blitz by outside groups helped secure big GOP wins

Hedge fund moguls helped bankroll groups’ attack ads, sources tell NBC News

By Michael Isikoff and Rich Gardella

NBC News

A tightly coordinated effort by outside Republican groups, spearheaded by Karl Rove and fueled by tens of millions of dollars in contributions from Wall Street hedge fund moguls and other wealthy donors, helped secure big GOP midterm victories Tuesday, according to campaign spending figures and Republican fundraising insiders.

Leading the GOP spending pack was a pair of groups – American Crossroads and its affiliate, Crossroads GPS – both of which were co-founded by two former aides in the George W. Bush White House: Rove, and Ed Gillespie.

Clara Barton’s D.C. home and office may be converted into museum



By Michael E. Ruane

Washington Post Staff Writer  

Richard S. Lyons was a carpenter checking on the decrepit building that had fallen into the hands of the government. He was alone, and it was raining. He had gone to the vacant third floor of the structure in downtown Washington, when he heard a noise.

He looked around but found nothing. He heard it again – like something moving around – in another part of the warren of crumbling rooms. Again, he found nothing. Then, as he tells it, he thought he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around. Glancing up, he spied an old envelope hanging from a hole in the ceiling. It was message from the past – an entree of sorts into a lost story of the famous Civil War nurse and Red Cross humanitarian Clara Barton.

USA

Richard Wolffe: Democrat doom may turn to delight as Tea Party politics kick in

The United States appears to be heading in Britain’s direction: towards spending cuts and power-sharing between rival parties

Thursday, 4 November 2010

Barack Obama has never been short of unsolicited advice. This week brings an unusually large windfall of wise words from pundits and politicians who have never understood him but would still like to change him.

From the beginning of his unlikely journey to the White House, when I first started covering and interviewing him, most of Washington thought he needed to be more like the Clintons. Today is no different.

They say he obviously needs to triangulate with both parties, as Bill Clinton did after his bloodbath in 1994. And he clearly needs to win the older, white, working Democrats who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2008.

Republicans Face a Fundamental Choice in How to Oppose

POLITICAL TIMES

By MATT BAI Published: November 3, 2010

The day after the election always dawns sunny and full of hope in Washington. From Representative John A. Boehner on down, Republicans talked on Wednesday about how open they were to working with the president (except, perhaps, for repealing that whole health care thing). Rand Paul, the next senator from Kentucky, said on MSNBC that his family was hoping to meet the Obama girls. You could almost see the two dads stretched out in front of the TV, sharing a laugh at “Phineas and Ferb.”

Reality will intrude soon enough, and Republicans will have to decide what kind of opposition they intend to be. One could argue that the most fundamental choice facing the new Republican House majority, in particular, is whether to stand on cultural or intellectual dissent – or, put another way, whether they want to cast themselves principally as the party of Sarah Palin or the party of Paul Ryan..

Europe

BBC apologises to Bob Geldof over Band Aid claims

BBC admits it was wrong to have given ‘impression’ that money from charity song ended up being spent on weapons

Tara Conlan

The Guardian, Thursday 4 November 2010  

Not many people come away from a clash with Bob Geldof unscathed. And for the BBC it has proved no different. Today, across BBC1, Radio 4 and the World Service, it will broadcast an apology to the singer-philanthropist and the Band Aid Trust he founded.

Accused by Geldof of causing “appalling damage” to the famine relief charity he founded in 1985, the BBC will admit that it was wrong, in a story broadcast in March this year, to have given the “impression” that money raised from the Band Aid single Do They Know It’s Christmas ended up being spent on weapons rather than charity. It is a climbdown that Geldof said would “begin to repair some of the appalling damage done” to the reputation of Band Aid, and he welcomed it “on behalf of all those members of the public who have so magnificently donated to Band Aid and Live Aid over the last 26 years”

Sarkozy had ‘surveillance unit spy on journalists’

The Irish Times – Thursday, November 4, 2010

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris

FRANCE’S SOCIALIST Party has called for the head of domestic intelligence to be brought before a parliamentary commission after a newspaper claimed a specialist surveillance unit had been established to spy on journalists.

In a report signed by its editor, Claude Angeli, yesterday, the weekly Le Canard Enchaîné alleged that President Nicolas Sarkozy personally supervised the surveillance of journalists covering sensitive stories. The claim was described as “totally far-fetched” by the Élysée Palace.

Le Canard alleged that, “since the beginning of the year, at least”, whenever journalists undertook “annoying” investigations, the head of state asked Bernard Squarcini, the head of the DCRI counter-intelligence service to “place [them] under surveillance”.

Middle East

After Baghdad bombings, Iraqis have harsh words for security forces

‘The politicians are fighting each other instead of the terrorists,’ says a Baghdad shopkeeper, reflecting widespread doubt the government will prevent further Baghdad bombings.  

By Jane Arraf, Correspondent / November 3, 2010  

Baghdad

Security in the Iraqi capital was heightened and city streets almost empty Wednesday as many Iraqis stayed home after a series of bombings sparked fears that security forces are overwhelmed by the violence.

The coordinated bombings, which came two days after a major attack on a Baghdad church, seemed designed to demonstrate that Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups still have a significant presence in the capital. Sixteen car bombs and road-side bombs detonated across the city on Tuesday evening, prompting the government to declare a security alert and impose snap bans on vehicles.

It also added pressure on squabbling political leaders to form a new government and restore public confidence almost eight months after Iraqis voted in national elections. Parliament, ordered by Iraq’s highest court to get back to work, is scheduled to reconvene on Monday.

Asia

Six years later, army to pull out of Timor



Lindsay Murdoch

November 4, 2010

Australian troops will withdraw from East Timor in 2012 – six years after hundreds of them arrived in the half-island nation to quell violent upheaval.

East Timor’s leaders, including the President, Jose Ramos Horta, have decided to end the deployment of the Australian commanded International Stabilisation Force (ISF) after elections in 2010 because the country’s security situation has stabilised, said Duarte Nunes, the head of East Timor’s parliamentary committee on defence and security.

The war to come in Myanmar  

 

By Tony Cliff  

LAIZA, Myanmar – With her pretty face shaded by camouflage green leaves falling from her kepi and a semi-automatic rifle rested on her shoulder, Labang Hkawng Nyoi could be a perfect poster model for a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) recruitment campaign.

The 19-year-old woman is one of 130 new recruits and volunteers who in recent days were sweating under the late afternoon heat in a KIA training camp in remote northern Myanmar, also know as Burma.

Dressed in khaki, they all wear a white number on a red patch stitched on their left pocket. At turn, they break ranks into small groups, run to a large open field, throw themselves to the ground and, while imitating the sound of a machine gun, crawl with their gun aimed at the imaginary enemy.  

Africa

The ‘Gap kids’ you won’t see in the adverts

Photographs reveal desperate children in the shadow of clothing factory in Lesotho

By Daniel Howden, Africa correspondent Thursday, 4 November 2010

Eight-year-old Motselisi is a different kind of “Gap kid”. She is one of the children that scavenges for offcuts from garment factories that dominate the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. The Thetsane rubbish dump where she was photographed belongs to the dark side of the denim trade.

A portrait of her dressed in rags in front of burning piles of scraps from a factory that supplies Levi Strauss and Gap was among an award-winning series taken by the photographer Robin Hammond. The nearby factory was accused of illegally dumping chemical waste, including caustic soda, at municipal sites. Witnesses described rivers that ran an unnatural blue as clothing dyes and other effluents were allowed to run into waterways that local people rely on for washing and cooking.

Is the Case Against Charles Taylor Falling Apart?

Special Court for Sierra Leone

By Thomas Darnstädt and Jan Puhl

The court is not spared anything, including this cross-examination on the subject of cannibalism.

Question: “How do you prepare a human being for a pot?” The witness: “We lay you down, slit your throat und butcher you and throw your head away, your intestines.”

This is more than the court wants to hear. The audience turns away in disgust.

“With pepper and salt,” the witness adds.

These are scenes from a nightmare that never seems to end. The trial of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, before the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague has been underway for more than three years —without palpable results.

Nov 04 2010

Prime Time

Premiers (except for Faux).  Looks like I’ll be watching Mythbusters and Man v. Food.  Phineas and Ferb has an air date 3 days from now.  Amazingly enough the NHL LA Kings google higher than their NBA namesakes.

Penny Pingleton, you know you are punished. From now on you’re wearing a giant P on your blouse EVERY DAY to school so that the whole world knows that Penny Pingleton is permanently, positively, punished.

Later-

Dave hosts Tina Fey and Brad Paisley.  Jon has Chris Wallace (ugh, his father must be very proud), Stephen Doris Kearns Goodwin (not much of a historian actually, and a plagiarist).

Boondocks– Tom, Sarah and Usher.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Nov 03 2010

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Obama rues election ‘shellacking’

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

44 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama admitted Wednesday he suffered a “shellacking” in mid-term elections, but would not concede the rout represented a massive repudiation of his transformative domestic agenda.

A chastened president instead blamed the loss of the House of Representatives and Republican gains in the Senate on deep voter frustration at the sluggish recovery and his failure to clean up the “ugly mess” in Washington.

“It feels bad,” Obama said, digesting his defeat in a White House news conference setting the tone for a looming period of divided government and political confrontation in which he must now chart his 2012 re-election bid.

2 Republicans strike first blow on US election night

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Tue Nov 2, 7:35 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Republicans struck the first blow in an expected mid-term election rout of President Barack Obama’s Democrats Tuesday, and the conservative Tea Party celebrated electing its first senator, exit polls showed.

Obama’s Democrats steeled for a rebuke from fearful voters furious at the slow economic recovery, as Republicans anticipated the seizure of the House of Representatives and hoped to draw close to parity in the Senate.

Veteran politician Dan Coats pulled off the first Republican victory, picking up a Senate seat formerly held by the Democrats in midwestern Indiana.

3 Obama blames election rout on economy

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

2 hrs 40 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama would not concede Wednesday that a Republican election rout marked a massive repudiation of his agenda, but did shoulder the blame for deep voter frustration over the economy.

Hours after Republicans captured the House of Representatives and slashed the Democratic majority in the Senate, a subdued Obama said in a White House news conference that voters were mostly preoccupied with the slow recovery.

“I think that there is no doubt that people’s number one concern is the economy,” Obama said. “And what they were expressing great frustration about is the fact that we haven’t made enough progress on the economy.”

4 Republicans deal stinging mid-term rebuke to Obama

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 8:32 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – American’s awoke Wednesday to a vastly different political landscape, with Republicans retaking the House of Representatives as US voters rebuke President Barack Obama and the hopes of his historic 2008 election win.

Resurgent Republicans, led by the ultra-conservative Tea Party insurgency, steamrolled Democrats in Tuesday’s key mid-term election by taking at least 60 seats and a commanding majority in the House. It was one of the chamber’s largest political swings of the past century.

Beleaguered Democrats clung onto the Senate, but the Republicans netted six seats, with two more battleground states, Colorado and Washington, yet to be declared. They needed an unlikely 10 pickups to take the Senate as well.

5 Parcel plot not linked to international terror, Greece says

by John Hadoulis, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 12:42 pm ET

ATHENS (AFP) – A Greek parcel bomb plot that has seen packages mailed to European leaders and foreign embassies in Athens has “no link” to international terror, the government said Wednesday as Europe moved to tighten security.

“All the evidence so far clearly shows that these incidents have nothing to do with any kind of organised international terrorism,” Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told reporters in Athens.

Thirteen parcel bombs have so far been accounted for, including one that reached the German chancellery in Berlin and another found on board a courier plane to Paris after it was diverted to Bologna.

6 Greece halts foreign mail as police hunt parcel bombers

by John Hadoulis, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 9:05 am ET

ATHENS (AFP) – Greece imposed a ban on all international mail Wednesday following a series of parcel bombs addressed to foreign targets, as police hunted a gang of left-wing militants believed to be behind the campaign.

While authorities came under fire for failing to contain the plot, police appealed for information which could lead to the capture of five men suspected of trying to attack embassies in Athens and the offices of several European leaders.

“Democracy cannot be terrorised,” said Prime Minister George Papandreou, who said the campaign was designed to “hurt” Greece as it struggles against an unprecedented debt crisis that nearly bankrupted it this year.

7 Fearful Iraqi Christians face fresh Qaeda threats

by Anwar Faruqi, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 12:39 pm ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraqi Christians faced on Wednesday threats of more violence after Al-Qaeda said Christians everywhere are “legitimate targets,” in the wake of a bloodbath at a Baghdad church the foreign minister called “barbaric.”

“All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) wherever they can reach them,” said a statement by the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the local branch of Osama bin Laden’s jihadist network.

The group had already said its gunmen were behind a hostage-taking at a Baghdad cathedral on Sunday that ended in the deaths of 46 worshippers, including two priests.

8 Fed resumes massive spending to spur recovery

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

35 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday agreed to pour an additional 600 billion dollars into the US economy, a bold but risky move to ease crushing unemployment.

The Fed’s top policy panel cast aside its long-held reluctance to micro-managing the economy, as members faced down the prospect of a lost decade of growth.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said it would buy up new Treasury debt at a rate of around 75 billion dollars a month, a scale not seen since the depths of the economic crisis.

9 Fed weighs landmark move to prime US economy

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

Tue Nov 2, 4:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting panel began a crucial two-day meeting Tuesday, poised to cast aside its long-held reluctance to micro-manage the economy in a bid to avoid a lost decade of growth.

The central bank’s open market committee (FOMC) is expected to approve massive stimulus spending not seen since the depths of the economic crisis.

At the conclusion of the meeting Wednesday, the Fed is expected to announce it will resume the large-scale purchase of long-term US bonds — essentially printing billions of dollars — in the hope of boosting a weak recovery.

10 Fed set to resume spending despite voter angst

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 12:59 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Federal Reserve was poised Wednesday to pour billions of dollars into the US economy to ease crushing unemployment, just hours after voters expressed their anger at government spending.

The Fed’s top policy-making panel was set to cast aside its long-held reluctance to micro-manage the economy in a bid to avoid a lost decade of growth, a move that redefines the central bank’s role.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was likely to approve stimulus spending worth hundreds of billions of dollars, a scale not seen since the depths of the economic crisis.

11 Lloyds bank poaches Santander UK head for new chief

by Roland Jackson, AFP

1 hr 40 mins ago

LONDON (AFP) – Britain’s state-rescued Lloyds bank on Wednesday poached Santander UK chief Antonio Horta-Osorio to be its new chief, as the sector completed a management clearout following the global financial crisis.

Spanish-owned Santander UK later named his replacement as Ana Patricia Botin, who is the daughter of Santander’s executive chairman and will become the first female chief executive of a British retail bank.

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), which is slowly recovering after a massive government bailout, said 46-year-old Portuguese national Horta-Osorio would replace current chief executive Eric Daniels in March 2011.

12 Britain, France sign landmark defence pact

by Alice Ritchie, AFP

Tue Nov 2, 4:09 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – Historic rivals Britain and France agreed a deal in London Tuesday to create a joint military force and share nuclear testing facilities, heralding an unprecedented era of defence cooperation.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed two treaties which they say will allow them to remain global players while cutting defence budgets in the wake of the financial crisis.

The neighbouring NATO members — rivals for centuries who fell out spectacularly over the 2003 Iraq invasion — insisted the pact would not deprive their militaries of the ability to act independently.

13 Court hears India’s ‘biggest corporate fraud’ case

by P.S. Jayaram, AFP

Tue Nov 2, 12:50 pm ET

HYDERABAD, India (AFP) – The disgraced founder of Indian outsourcing giant Satyam appeared in court Tuesday in a billion-dollar corporate fraud case dubbed “India’s Enron”.

The firm’s founder and former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju — a one-time poster boy for Indian economic progress — was present for a preliminary hearing in the southern city of Hyderabad.

His declaration in January 2009 that he had falsified profits plunged the Indian business world into turmoil.

14 BMW profits boosted by sales in emerging markets

by Francois Becker, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 9:23 am ET

FRANKFURT (AFP) – BMW reported a spectacular profit comeback on Wednesday, turning in an 11-fold increase for the third quarter on recovering global demand for its up-market vehicles.

Although many people in Europe and the United States are worrying about recovery from the economic crisis and unemployment, as evidenced in a swing against US Barack Obama in US elections, luxury car makers in Germany are riding high, largely on demand from emerging markets.

Latest data on auto sales in Europe generally show a slump from levels last year which were stimulated by now phased-out government subsidies.

15 Airliners fly in face of cyber attack scares

by Adrian Addison, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 9:14 am ET

HONG KONG (AFP) – Around the world, around the clock, circles of flickering screens keep aircraft apart in the air, ease them gently down to the ground and guide their precious human cargoes off the runway.

This finely choreographed global ballet of speeding metal, fuel and flesh moved almost five billion passengers in 2009, according to data from Airports Council International.

But what if all those screens went blank?

16 Australia to crack down on ‘arrogant’ banks

by Amy Coopes, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 2:53 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan vowed to crack down on “arrogant” banks in an extraordinary attack Wednesday as major lenders face mounting anger over rising interest rates and fees.

Swan promised sweeping reforms to loosen the grip of Australia’s “big four” lenders, slamming a move by Commonwealth Bank to lift borrowing rates above Tuesday’s official 25-basis-point rise.

“The behaviour of the Commonwealth Bank has been arrogant in the extreme,” Swan told reporters as he left on a trip to China.

17 World Bank warning over China trade imbalance risk

by Susan Stumme, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 2:38 am ET

BEIJING (AFP) – The World Bank on Wednesday boosted its 2010 growth forecast for China to 10 percent, but warned that global tensions over trade imbalances could cast a shadow over the rosy economic outlook.

The bank based its new prediction on the “still surprisingly strong” 9.6 percent growth in gross domestic product seen in the third quarter, and said the prospects for the world’s second-largest economy “remain sound”.

The Washington-based bank forecast 2011 growth of a more modest but still robust 8.7 percent, slightly up from its previous estimate of 8.5 percent, in its latest quarterly update on China.

18 GM $13 billion IPO to cut Treasury stake to 43 percent

By Soyoung Kim and Clare Baldwin, Reuters

6 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – General Motors on Wednesday finalized terms for a stock offering of about $13 billion to repay a controversial taxpayer-funded bailout and reduce the U.S. Treasury to a minority shareholder.

GM’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is the final step before it begins marketing what is expected to be one of the largest-ever IPOs. The investors are expected to span the globe and include sovereign wealth funds.

The automaker plans to sell 365 million common shares at $26 to $29 each, raising about $10 billion at the midpoint, according to updated initial public offering papers filed with the SEC.

19 Fed takes bold, risky step to bolster economy

By Pedro da Costa and Mark Felsenthal, Reuters

2 hrs 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve launched an unorthodox new policy on Wednesday, committing to buy $600 billion more in government bonds by the middle of next year in an attempt to breathe new life into a struggling U.S. economy.

The decision, which takes the Fed into largely uncharted waters, is aimed at further lowering borrowing costs for consumers and businesses still suffering in the aftermath of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The U.S. central bank said it would buy about $75 billion in longer-term Treasury bonds per month as part of the new program. It said it would regularly review the pace and size of its purchases and adjust as needed depending on the path of the recovery.

20 Subdued Obama says suffered a voter "shellacking"

By Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland, Reuters

45 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A chastened President Barack Obama on Wednesday pledged to seek compromise with Republicans who won big in congressional elections and admitted he had lost touch with voters who delivered a “shellacking” to him and his Democrats.

But on issue after issue, Obama gave little ground on his positions as the two sides gear up for negotiations over how to tackle the sluggish economy, the main reason the electorate has soured on his leadership.

At a White House news conference, Obama confessed to having suffered a long night on Tuesday as Republicans seized control of the House of Representatives and made gains in the Senate, handing him the biggest defeat of his career and threatening to block his agenda for the second half of his term.

21 Republicans promise to roll back Obama agenda

By John Whitesides, Reuters

1 hr 20 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Exuberant Republicans vowed on Wednesday to exercise their new power in Congress to roll back some of President Barack Obama’s key accomplishments, but a somber Obama said voters wanted both parties to work harder to find consensus.

“It’s pretty clear the American people want a smaller, less costly and more accountable government,” Republican John Boehner, in line to become the next House of Representatives speaker, told reporters. “Our pledge is to listen to the American people.”

Voters, anxious about unemployment and unhappy with Obama’s leadership, punished Democrats in an election rout on Tuesday that gave House control to Republicans and weakened the Democratic majority in the Senate.

22 Tea Party calls for "fiscal sanity" in Washington

By Steve Holland and Thomas Ferraro, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 6:24 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tea Party-backed Republicans who won at congressional elections on Tuesday vowed to bring their uncompromising politics to the debate over government spending and deficits.

The emerging Tea Party bloc could prove to be a headache to both Democrats and Republicans in the Congress next year and complicate any attempts by the two parties to reach across the aisle for compromise.

Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky were high-profile entries to the Tea Party club in winning Senate races in their home states.

23 Special Report – White House to business: Can’t we be friends?

By Caren Bohan, Reuters

1 hr 5 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It seemed like the beginning of a beautiful friendship — or at the very least a functional relationship.

In March 2009, with the United States on the brink of recession and the stock market at 12-year lows, President Barack Obama met with the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives from top U.S. firms. The two sides said they would work together to rescue the economy and signaled openness to tackling long-term problems like tax reform and deficit reduction.

Obama hailed the “entrepreneurial spirit” of the CEOs and said his goal was “not to disparage wealth but to expand its reach; not to stifle the market,” but to help spur innovation.

24 Greece suspends air freight after bombs found

By Renee Maltezou and Ingrid Melander, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 11:30 am ET

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece suspended overseas shipment of mail and packages for 48 hours on Wednesday, hoping to stop militants sending more parcel bombs in addition to more than a dozen already sent to foreign governments and embassies.

Small bombs exploded at the Swiss and Russian embassies in Athens on Tuesday, a parcel with explosives was intercepted at the German chancellor’s office and another package addressed to Italy’s prime minister caught fire when it was checked.

The bombs may be intended to spur an anti-government vote in Sunday’s local elections in protest against Prime Minister George Papandreou’s austerity plan, agreed with the EU and International Monetary Fund to deal with Greece’s debt mountain.

25 Iraq parliament to meet, Maliki may form government

By Suadad al-Salhy, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 9:01 am ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliament will meet on Monday to elect a speaker, the chamber said on Wednesday, a move that could break an eight-month political deadlock and lead to Nuri al-Maliki’s reappointment as prime minister.

Iraq has been without a new government since an inconclusive March election. The Sunni-backed cross sectarian Iraqiya bloc won the most seats, but Maliki’s faction has since combined with other Shi’ite groups and reached deals with minority Kurds, and that may keep him in power.

In a sign that some in Iraqiya no longer believe it can form a government, one of its lawmakers said a group of up to 30 of its parliamentarians intended to back a government led by Maliki.

26 Iranian woman to be hanged Wednesday: rights group

AFP

Tue Nov 2, 8:10 pm ET

BERLIN (Reuters) – An Iranian woman whose sentence of execution by stoning for adultery provoked a worldwide outcry will instead be hanged for murder on Wednesday, a human rights group said.

“The authorities in Tehran have given the go-ahead to Tabriz prison for the execution of Iran stoning case Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani,” the International Committee against Stoning, a German-based campaign group, said on its website.

“It has been reported that she is to be executed this Wednesday, 3 November.”

27 Bush considered replacing VP Cheney: memoir

By Steve Holland, AFP

Tue Nov 2, 7:11 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former President George W. Bush once considered replacing Vice President Dick Cheney, Bush says in a revealing memoir in which he offers advice on the U.S. economy and admits mistakes on Iraq and Katrina.

Bush’s book, “Decision Points,” is full of anecdotes and behind-the-scenes details of eight eventful years that began with the September 11 in 2001 attacks and ended with an economic meltdown in which “I felt like the captain of a sinking ship.”

Bush wrote of many errors involving the Iraq campaign and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction there, despite numerous intelligence reports pointing to their existence.

28 Obama signals compromise with GOP on tax cuts

By DAVID ESPO and JULIE PACE, Associated Press

18 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A chastened President Barack Obama signaled a willingness to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts and energy policy Wednesday, one day after his party lost control of the House and suffered deep Senate losses in midterm elections.

Obama ruefully called the Republican victories “a shellacking” and acknowledged that his own connection with the public had frayed.

At a White House news conference, the president said that when Congress returns, “my goal is to make sure we don’t have a huge spike in taxes for middle class families.” He made no mention of his campaign-long insistence that tax cuts be permitted to expire on upper-income families, a position he said would avoid swelling the deficit but put him in conflict with Republicans.

Gutless wonder.

29 Republicans promise limited government

By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

55 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Emboldened by a commanding House majority and Senate gains, Republican leaders vowed Wednesday to roll back the size of government and, in time, the nation’s sweeping health care law. President Barack Obama, reflective after his party’s drubbing, accepted blame for failing to deliver the economic security Americans demand while saying of his health overhaul: “This was the right thing to do.”

He called the election a “shellacking.”

After two years with fellow Democrats leading Congress, Obama now must deal for the rest of his term with the jarring reality of Republican control of the House, a diminished Democratic majority in the Senate and a new flock of lawmakers sworn to downsize government at every chance.

30 Tea party winners take ambitious promises to DC

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press

25 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Fervent tea party Republicans are headed to Congress carrying ambitious promises to overhaul taxes, spending and health care, with activists pressuring them to buck their own party if necessary to achieve their goals. “They are not in a mood for compromise,” said Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler.

The activists promised to keep up the pressure on their favored lawmakers to fight a Washington establishment they say is broken and doesn’t work for the best interests of the American people. That could make trouble for congressional leaders who need compromise and dealmaking to get any work done.

Several tea party winners said in interviews that they were reaching out to one another in the wake of the election to form a coalition for their conservative principles. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., formed a tea party caucus this summer with a couple dozen members, and the freshmen said it’s unclear if they would join her group or start one of their own.

31 Dems save Senate majority, Reid; GOP grabs 6 seats

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press

Wed Nov 3, 2:42 am ET

WASHINGTON – Democrats narrowly held their Senate majority Tuesday but suffered at least six stinging losses, including the Illinois seat once held by President Barack Obama.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada survived a fierce challenge from tea party Republican Sharron Angle. However, Republicans ousted two Democratic senators and picked up Democratic-held seats in four other states, leaving Reid with a greatly diminished majority.

Reid’s win, plus Democratic victories in California and West Virginia, kept Republicans short of the 10-seat gain they needed to control the 100-member chamber. Races in Alaska, Colorado and Washington were too close to call.

32 What voters sought, change, appears to be in store

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press

37 mins ago

PHILADELPHIA – From Pennsylvania to Arkansas, New Hampshire to Ohio, the electorate turned over incumbents Tuesday like a gardener turns over earth. Republicans reaped an impressive harvest nationwide, but in some places their sweep reversed balances of power where Democratic roots run deep.

The GOP’s reward: Governing a fickle, angry electorate in a time of busted state budgets and high anxiety about jobs and joblessness. And for voters in states that flipped from Democratic to Republican control, what they sought – change – is definitely in store.

In Ohio and Wisconsin, high-speed rail projects may be scuttled. In Pennsylvania, privatization of the state liquor stores is back on the table. In the Democratic stronghold of Minnesota, long-dormant GOP proposals to establish racetrack gambling, require a photo ID for voting and amend the state Constitution to ban gay marriage may find new life. And everywhere, they promised to focus on the economy.

33 Gay-rights groups view election as major setback

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

1 hr 23 mins ago

NEW YORK – Gay-rights activists celebrated a few bright spots on Election Day, but they also suffered some major setbacks – including losses by key supporters in Congress and the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court judges who had ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.

On both sides of the marriage debate, the Iowa vote was seen as a signal that judges in other states could face similar punitive challenges.

The congressional results further clouded the prospects for repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy so that gays could serve openly in the military. Democratic leaders, including President Barack Obama, hope for a repeal vote in the Senate during the upcoming lame-duck session, but the post-election climate may strengthen the hand of conservatives wary of repeal.

34 Voters carry anxiety, disappointment to the polls

By ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press

Tue Nov 2, 4:53 pm ET

The millions of Americans voting in midterm elections Tuesday were not always sure what they wanted, or even whom. But many knew they were unhappy – uneasy about the economy, frustrated with the direction of the country and dissatisfied with politics.

On an Election Day that seemed a long way from 2008, disappointment was the theme.

“I’d like to find somebody to blame,” said Kimberly Abrudan, a customer service manager who had voted at a Delaware charter school for Democrat Chris Coons for Senate. “It would make things a lot easier. But I’m not convinced that it’s any one man.”

35 Several Senate, governor races remain uncertain

By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press

Wed Nov 3, 1:26 pm ET

DENVER – Senate races in three states and a handful of gubernatorial races remained extraordinarily close Wednesday and seemed destined for contested vote counts that could drag on for weeks.

The tight votes signaled how closely divided American voters are in an election that produced a split Congress, with Republicans taking control of the House and Democrats maintaining power in the Senate.

The candidates in the Washington state and Colorado Senate races were separated by a few thousand votes after campaigns that attracted tens of millions of dollars in spending. The Republican nominee in the Alaska Senate race was already gearing up for a legal fight and sending lawyers to the state.

36 Fed to buy $600 billion in bonds to aid economy

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

21 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve announced a bold plan Wednesday to try to invigorate the economy by buying $600 billion more in Treasury bonds. The Fed said it would buy about $75 billion a month in long-term government bonds through the middle of 2011 to further drive down interest rates on mortgages and other debt.

This is in addition to an expected $250 billion to $300 billion in Fed purchases over the same period from reinvesting proceeds from its mortgage portfolio.

The idea is for cheaper loans to get people to spend more and stimulate hiring. The Fed said it will monitor whether adjustments are needed depending on how the economy is performing.

37 Fed poised to unveil new program to aid economy

JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

Wed Nov 3, 3:57 am ET

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is poised to adopt a new plan to jolt the economy. It’s a high-stakes gamble that could shape Chairman Ben Bernanke’s legacy.

The Fed is all but certain to detail its plan for buying more government bonds when it wraps up its two-day meeting Wednesday. Those purchases should further lower interest rates on mortgages and other loans. Cheaper loans could lead people and companies to borrow and spend. That might help invigorate the economy, and lead companies to step up hiring.

Still, many question whether the Fed’s new plan will provide much benefit.

38 See me, Obi-Wan Kenobi: Scientists seek 3-D video

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer

1 hr 16 mins ago

NEW YORK – Scientists say they have taken a big step toward displaying live video in three dimensions – a technology far beyond 3-D movies and more like the “Star Wars” scene where a ghostly Princess Leia image pleads, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

In that classic movie, the audience sees her back before a new camera perspective shows her face. Such a wraparound view of a moving image was just movie-trick fantasy in the 1977 film, but now?

“It is actually very, very close to reality. We have demonstrated the concept that it works. It’s no longer something that is science fiction,” said Nasser Peyghambarian of the University of Arizona.

39 Al-Qaida in Iraq threatens attacks on Christians

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press

1 hr 1 min ago

BAGHDAD – Al-Qaida’s front group in Iraq has threatened more attacks on Christians after a siege on a Baghdad church that left 58 people dead, linking the warning to claims that Egypt’s Coptic Church is holding women captive for converting to Islam.

The Islamic State of Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s assault on a Catholic church during Mass in downtown Baghdad, said its deadline for Egypt’s Copts to release the women had expired and its fighters would attack Christians wherever they can be reached.

“We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood,” the insurgent group said in a statement posted late Tuesday on militant websites.

40 Freddie Mac posts $4.1B loss for Q3

By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer

52 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac managed a narrower loss of $4.1 billion for the third quarter and asked for an additional $100 million in federal aid – far less than the $1.8 billion it sought in the second quarter.

But while the slimmer loss, and recent glimmerings such as a slowing rate of new soured loans coming onto Freddie’s books, may be positive signs, they don’t mean the end of the company’s travails, experts say.

“The fact that losses are better is good. But it’s not necessarily a forecast for future earnings growth,” said Anthony Sanders, a professor of real estate finance at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. “The problem still remains that we are faced with a deteriorating housing market.”

41 Legalize-marijuana measure loses in California

By DAVID CRARY and LISA LEFF, Associated Press

Wed Nov 3, 7:16 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Californians heeded warnings of legal chaos and other dangers and rejected a ballot measure Tuesday that would have made their state the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

The spirited campaign over Proposition 19 pitted the state’s political and law enforcement establishment against determined activists seeking to end the prohibition of pot.

It was by far the highest-profile of the 160 ballot measures being decided in 37 states. Other topics included abortion, tax cuts and health care reform.

42 DeLay remains confident as trial proceeds

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

1 hr 55 mins ago

AUSTIN, Texas – Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay remained confident he would prevail at his money laundering trial, telling reporters on Wednesday he believes prosecutors have yet to present any evidence that he did anything that broke the law.

DeLay, the once powerful but polarizing lawmaker, is accused of using his political action committee to illegally funnel $190,000 in corporate donations into Texas legislative races eight years ago. DeLay has denied any wrongdoing and says no corporate money went to Texas candidates.

The six witnesses that prosecutors have presented to jurors since testimony began Monday have detailed how the PAC was run, how it raised money and DeLay’s role in its operation.

43 Mercedes convertibles cruise fashionably

By ANN M. JOB, For The Associated Press

Wed Nov 3, 12:29 pm ET

The new-for-2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolets are stylish cruisers – but a bit old-fashioned.

The open-top, 2011 E350 and E550 look pretty on the road, ride smoothly and have the latest amenities and technology to make even cool-weather driving more comfortable than expected. But like past Mercedes Cabriolets of the early 1990s, the E-Class Cabrios have fabric soft tops, not the more complicated and weighty retractable hardtops that are common today. And so the E-Class convertibles offer a good amount of trunk space.

Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, for the E350 Cabriolet with 268-horsepower V-6 is $57,725. The uplevel E550 with 382-horsepower V-8 starts at $65,675.

Nov 03 2010

Obama and Reid: Still Can’t Commit on DADT Repeal

While President Obama says that he supports repealing DADT, he will not tell the lame duck Congress to do it:

   OBAMA: “There’s going be a review that comes out at the beginning of the month that will have a surveyed attitudes and opinions within the armed forces. I will expect that Secretary of Defense Gates and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen, will have something to say about that review. I will look at it very carefully. But that will give us time to act in potentially during the lame duck session to change this policy. Keep in mind we got a bunch of court cases that are out there as well. And something that would be very disruptive to good order and good discipline and unit cohesion is, if we got this issue bouncing around on the courts as it already has over the last several weeks, where the Pentagon and the chain of command doesn’t know at any given time what rules they’re working under. We need to provide certainty and it’s time for us to move this policy forward, and this should not be a partisan issue.



This is why voters threw out the blue dogs. Keep missing the message, Mr. President.

h/t Wonk Room @ Think Progress

Nov 03 2010

Punting the Pundits: The Morning After

“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.

Will Obama and the Democrats now get the message? The center is too far right. We did not elect them to continue the same destructive policies of the last administration. We elected them to do the bold things they said they would do really regulate Wall St. and the banks, real health care reform and regulation, ending DADT and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not expanding them into Pakistan and Yemen. Had they tried that and failed because of Republican obstruction maybe last night would have been far different.

TMC

Glenn Greenwald: Pundit sloth: blaming the Left

Ten minutes was the absolute maximum I could endure of any one television news outlet last night without having to switch channels in the futile search for something more bearable, but almost every time I had MNSBC on, there was Lawrence O’Donnell trying to blame “the Left” and “liberalism” for the Democrats’ political woes. Alan Grayson’s loss was proof that outspoken liberalism fails. Blanche Lincoln’s loss was the fault of the Left for mounting a serious primary challenge against her. Russ Feingold’s defeat proved that voters reject liberalism in favor of conservatism, etc. etc. It sounded as though he was reading from some script jointly prepared in 1995 by The New Republic, Lanny Davis and the DLC.

There are so many obvious reasons why this “analysis” is false: Grayson represents a highly conservative district that hadn’t been Democratic for decades before he won in 2008 and he made serious mistakes during the campaign; Lincoln was behind the GOP challenger by more than 20 points back in January, before Bill Halter even announced his candidacy; Feingold was far from a conventional liberal, having repeatedly opposed his own party on multiple issues, and he ran in a state saddled with a Democratic governor who was unpopular in the extreme. Beyond that, numerous liberals who were alleged to be in serious electoral trouble kept their seats: Barney Frank, John Dingell, Rush Holt and many others. But there’s one glaring, steadfastly ignored fact destroying O’Donnell’s attempt — which is merely the standard pundit storyline that has been baking for months and will now be served en masse — to blame The Left and declare liberalism dead. It’s this little inconvenient fact:

  Blue Dog Coalition Crushed By GOP Wave Election

Robert Reich: Why Obama Should Learn the Lesson of 1936, not 1996

Which lesson will the president learn from the midterm election — that of Clinton in 1996, or FDR in 1936? The choice will determine his strategy over the next two years. Hopefully, he’ll find 1936 more relevant. . . .

Obama’s best hope of reelection will be to re-frame the debate, making the central issue the power of big businesses and Wall Street to gain economic advantage at the expense of the rest of us. This is the Democratic playing field, and it’s more relevant today than at any time since the 1930s.

The top 1 percent of Americans, by income, is now taking home almost a quarter of all income, and accounting for almost 40 percent of all wealth. Meanwhile, large numbers of Americans are losing their homes because banks won’t let them reorganize their mortgages under bankruptcy. And corporations continue to lay off (and not rehire) even larger numbers.

With Republicans controlling more of Congress, their pending votes against extended unemployment benefits, jobs bills, and work programs will more sharply reveal whose side they’re on. Their attempt to extort extended tax cuts for the wealthy by threatening tax increases on the middle class will offer even more evidence. As will their refusal to disclose their sources of campaign funding.

E.J. Dionne Jr.: And now for the next battle

President Obama allowed Republicans to define the terms of the nation’s political argument for the past two years and permitted them to draw battle lines the way they wanted. Neither he nor his party can let that happen again.

Democrats would be foolish to turn in on themselves in a fruitless battle over whether their troubles owe to a failure to mobilize and excite their base or to win support from the political center. In fact, Democrats held onto moderate voters while losing independents. What hurt them most was this brute fact: Voters younger than 30 made up 18 percent of the electorate in 2008 but only about half that on Tuesday, according to network exit polls. This verdict was rendered by a much older and much more conservative electorate. Yes, there was an enthusiasm gap.

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Chamber of Commerce backlash

Decades ago the Chamber of Commerce enjoyed a Norman Rockwell-like image in the minds of many Americans: working in the interest of mom-and-pop stores everywhere and sponsoring community events such as Little League baseball and holiday parades.

And while there may still be some local chambers that fit that bill, this election cycle has given a much clearer picture of what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is all about – except when it comes to lobbying to make their health care more expensive, privatize their social security and outsource their jobs .

The U.S. Chamber stated that its goal has been to spend $75 million on a midterm election that will break fundraising records. Its war chest is devoted almost entirely to defeating Democrats who take on big corporate interests. While Chamber President and chief executive Tom Donohue would have Americans believe that his organization is still working in the interest of small and mid-sized businesses, that’s simply not true. In 2008, a third of its income came from just 19 members – big companies to whom the chamber is beholden . That probably explains why only 249 of 7,000 local chambers are now members, and why more and more are dropping out.

John Nichols: Midterm Elections Define Presidents

It is probably true that we all suffer from a bit of “most-important-election-of-our-lifetime” fatigue.

They can’t all be the most important.

Why would this one matter more, say, than 2008, when a president who was supposed to transform our politics was elected?

Here’s a notion: presidents are only as powerful as their first round of midterms.

Joan Walsh: Is there any silver lining for Dems?

In California, Democrats win big, showing wealthy Republicans can’t always buy what they want

Democrats are cleaning up after a storm Tuesday night and trying to find silver linings in the clouds. Democrats lost the House by the biggest margin since Truman was president and made gains in the Senate. Exit polls showed up to 90 percent of voters said the scary economy drove their vote.

It’s clear the party was doomed by coming to power in the worst economy since the Great Depression. Some Democrats are going to continue pointing back to the fact that President Obama and the 2009 Congress inherited that mess. But I think that’s a losing argument: They’ve had the levers of power for two years, and I don’t think it’s irrelevant that in so many polls people complained that Obama bailed out the banks and passed a stimulus that didn’t work. Strangely, I watched Democrats including MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell try to blame the blowout on whiny progressives. O’Donnell asked Rachel Maddow why Wisconsin stalwart Sen. Russ Feingold lost, if the diagnosis of many lefties was that less wimpy Democrats might have done better in this sad midterm, given that he was arguably the least wimpy Democrat in this cycle.

My answer would have been: Russ Feingold and other progressives who lost weren’t really tested fairly. They weren’t able to run on the results of their own political priorities, like a robust stimulus that might have created more jobs, or more aggressive healthcare reform that might have solved more people’s real-life problems and reined in insurance company abuses before 2014. We never saw the practical or policy promise of the Democratic class of 2008, and the party will suffer for its inability to make a palpable difference for its constituencies despite the margins it had in the House and Senate

Robert Sheer: Payback at the Polls

Let’s not shoot the messenger. Yes, the tea party victors are a mixed bag espousing often contradictory and at times weird positions, the source of their funding is questionable and their proposed solutions are vague and at times downright nutty. But they represent the most significant political response to the economic pain that has traumatized swaths of the nation at a time when so-called progressives have been reduced to abject impotence by their deference to a Democratic president.

Barack Obama deserved the rebuke he received at the polls for a failed economic policy that consisted of throwing trillions at Wall Street but getting nothing in return. His amen chorus in the media is quick to blame everyone but the president for his sharp reversal of fortunes. But it is not the fault of tea party Republicans that they responded to the rage out there over lost jobs and homes while the president remained indifferent to the many who are suffering

Nov 03 2010

More about the FAIL!

Dear Barack Obama: Word Salads Aren’t Enough

by Taylor Marsh

03 November 2010 9:31 am

Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Democratic legislators, and Obama loyalists thought they could pass health care legislation by throwing the American people into a corporate monopoly system against their will, while using seniors’ money to pay for it, sacrificing women, while lying to the people that it wouldn’t cost more, as you push so called “benefits” off into the future. In fact, Obama and his loyalists actually thought they’d even get rewarded. The political malpractice is epic.

Today Pres. Obama will come out and say something to the effect that “we get the message,” people don’t want obstruction or partisanship they want us to work together. The man is clueless. Following tested partisan and Democratic principles going back to F.D.R. might have saved some of last night. But Obama’s Monty Hall, “let’s make a corporate deal,” screw the policy principles mentality was always doomed to take Dems down. It was just a matter of waiting for the moment to manifest.

What voters want is for their lives to get better or at the very least to believe that the people in charge making policies understand their plight and know what they’re doing. Pres. Obama does not and, unfortunately, too many elected Dems thought their job was to walk in lock-step with a president who couldn’t find a democratic policy answer with F.D.R.’s road map.

…

The election results of 2010 are a result of Mr. Obama’s philosophy of cutting a deal for the sake of an “accomplishment” and in order to further your own political marketing. This craven self-serving political egotism means political catastrophe if what you’re doing doesn’t actually make the lives of people better or at the very least doesn’t make them feel as if you’re making it worse.

…

It’s the third turn out the bums election in as many cycles. It’s going to happen again in 2012 and if Pres. Obama doesn’t get his act together he will be turned out too.

Nov 03 2010

Another good analysis

The Primary Obama Movement Begins Today

Ian Welsh, 11/3/10

Let me put it simply, what went wrong went wrong from the very top of the party.  In both political and policy terms, the President of the United States, the head of the Democratic party, created this disaster.

…

Barack Obama took pains to let down or gratuitously harm virtually every major Democratic constituency. Whether it was increasing deportations of Hispanics, whether it was putting in a Presidential order against Federal money being used for abortions which was more restrictive than Rep. Stupak had demanded, whether it was wholesale violation of civil rights climaxing with the claim that he had the right to assassinate American citizens, whether it was trading away the public option to corporate interests then insisting for months he hadn’t, whether it was not moving aggressively on card check (EFCA) for unions, or whether it was constantly stymying attempts to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Barack Obama was there making sure that whatever could be done to demoralize the base was done.

…

The status quo of Democrats coming in after Republicans and accepting Republican policies as a fait accomplit must end.  If it does not, the US will experience a full-on meltdown.  Not a great depression like in the ’30s (though the US is in a Depression) but a meltdown like that which occurred in Russia after the collapse of the USSR, where the population actually declined, food was hard to find, brown outs were common, medicine was in short supply, and so on.

…

The left must be seen to repudiate Obama, and they must be seen to take him down.  If the left does not do this, left wing politics and policies will be discredited with Obama.  This is important not as a matter of partisan or ideological preference, it is important because left wing policies work.  It is necessary to move back to strongly progressive taxation, it is necessary to force the rich to take their losses, it is necessary to deal with global warming, it is necessary to deal with the fact that the era of cheap oil is over, it is necessary to stop the offshoring engine which is destroyin the American middle class.

…

The first step to fixing America is fixing the Democratic party, and the first step in fixing the Democratic party is fixing Barack Obama and destroying, forever, publicly and in the most high profile way possible, the idea that Democrats can ignore and abuse their own base.  The lies spewed by corporate media figures who earn millions of dollars a year, that every time the Democrats lose, it is because they were too left wing, so more tax cuts are necessary, must end.

Nov 03 2010

On This Day in History: November 3

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

November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 58 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1964, residents of the District of Columbia cast their ballots in a presidential election for the first time. The passage of the 23rd Amendment in 1961 gave citizens of the nation’s capital the right to vote for a commander in chief and vice president. They went on to help Democrat Lyndon Johnson defeat Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964, the next presidential election.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. Article One of the United States Constitution provides for a federal district, distinct from the states, to serve as the permanent national capital. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the federal territory until an act of Congress in 1871 established a single, unified municipal government for the whole District. It is for this reason that the city, while legally named the District of Columbia, is known as Washington, D.C. Named in honor of George Washington, the city shares its name with the U.S. state of Washington located on the country’s Pacific coast.

On July 16, 1790, the Residence Act provided for a new permanent capital to be located on the Potomac River, the exact area to be selected by President Washington. As permitted by the U.S. Constitution, the initial shape of the federal district was a square, measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side, totaling 100 square miles (260 km2). During 1791-92, Andrew Ellicott and several assistants, including Benjamin Banneker, surveyed the border of the District with both Maryland and Virginia, placing boundary stones at every mile point. Many of the stones are still standing. A new “federal city” was then constructed on the north bank of the Potomac, to the east of the established settlement at Georgetown. On September 9, 1791, the federal city was named in honor of George Washington, and the district was named the Territory of Columbia, Columbia being a poetic name for the United States in use at that time. Congress held its first session in Washington on November 17, 1800.

The Organic Act of 1801 officially organized the District of Columbia and placed the entire federal territory, including the cities of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, under the exclusive control of Congress. Further, the unincorporated territory within the District was organized into two counties: the County of Washington to the east of the Potomac and the County of Alexandria to the west. Following this Act, citizens located in the District were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, thus ending their representation in Congress.

The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the District three votes in the Electoral College for the election of President and Vice President, but still no voting representation in Congress.

 644 – Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is martyred by a Persian slave in Medina.

1468 – Liege is sacked by Charles I of Burgundy’s troops.

1493 – Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.

1783 – John Austin, a highwayman, is the last person to be publicly hanged at London’s Tyburn gallows.

1783 – The American Continental Army is disbanded.

1793 – French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.

1812 – Napoleon’s armies are defeated at Vyazma

1817 – The Bank of Montreal, Canada’s oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal, Quebec.

1838 – The Times of India, the world’s largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.

1848 – A greatly revised Dutch constitution, drafted by Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, severely limiting the powers of the Dutch monarchy, and strengthening the powers of parliament and ministers, is proclaimed. This constitution is still in effect today.

1867 – Garibaldi and his followers are defeated in the Battle of Mentana and fail to end the Pope’s Temporal power in Rome (it would be achieved three years later).

1883 – American Old West: Self-described “Black Bart the poet” gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves an incriminating clue that eventually leads to his capture.

1887 – Coimbra Academic Association, the oldest students’ union in Portugal, is founded.

1903 – With the encouragement of the United States, Panama separates from Colombia.

1905 – Czar Nicholas II of Russia signs a document of amnesty for political prisoners.

1911 – Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T.

1913 – The United States introduces an income tax.

1918 – Austria-Hungary enters into an armistice with the Allies, and the Habsburg-ruled empire dissolves.

1918 – Poland declares its independence from Russia.

1930 – Getulio Dornelles Vargas becomes Head of the Provisional Government in Brazil after a bloodless coup on October 24.

1935 – George II of Greece regains his throne through a popular plebiscite.

1942 – World War II: The Koli Point action begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on November 12.

1943 – World War II: 500 aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshafen harbor in Germany.

1957 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.

1964 – Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time.

1967 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins.

1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the “silent majority” to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.

1973 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.

1978 – Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1979 – Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a “Death to the Klan” rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.

1982 – The Salang tunnel fire in Afghanistan kills up to 2,000 people.

1986 – Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

1986 – The Federated States of Micronesia gain independence from the United States of America.

1988 – Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.

1997 – The United States of America imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and Eastern Africa.

2007 – Pervez Musharraf declares emergency rule across Pakistan. He suspends the Constitution, imposes a State of Emergency, and fires the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Nov 03 2010

How About Them Dawgs?

Blue Dog Coalition Crushed By GOP Wave Election

by Amanda Terkel, The Huffington Post

Posted: 11-3-10, 05:52 AM

According to an analysis by The Huffington Post, 23 of the 46 Blue Dogs up for re-election went down on Tuesday. Notable losses included Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.), the coalition’s co-chair for administration, and Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), the co-chair for policy. Two members were running for higher office (both lost), three were retiring and three races were still too close to call.

…

In fact, some progressives blamed the Blue Dogs for losses on Tuesday across the ideological spectrum within the Democratic Party.

“From our perspective, our members did all that they could do and really left everything on the field,” said Levana Layendecker, communications director of the progressive grassroots organization Democracy for America. “Of course we are disappointed with the results tonight, but not surprised. Unfortunately, progressive champions became collateral damage tonight in a toxic environment created by Blue Dogs who refused to stand up for real change.”

23 is still 23 too many.

Nov 03 2010

Ready for some more good news?

Good morning campers.  I’m your Uncle Ernie and I welcome you to Tommy’s Holiday Camp.  The camp with a difference, never mind the weather.  When you come to Tommy’s, the holiday’s forever!

BP’s Dudley Embraces Deepwater Risk in U.S., Brazil After Spill

By Brian Swint and Stanley Reed, Bloomberg News

Nov 3, 2010 4:33 AM ET

BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley expects to drill in the U.S. Gulf for 20 years as the company exploits its experience searching for oil miles below the sea.

“Companies like BP, one of the roles they play in the industry is working in riskier areas,” Dudley, 55, said in an interview at BP’s worldwide London headquarters yesterday. BP “is now going to become incredibly focused on managing the risks, for example, of deep-water. It’s not going to shy away from the risk, it’s going to get even better at it.”

…

“We certainly have a great set of production assets and we have opened up the lower tertiary play in the Gulf of Mexico, which is a two-decade play,” said Dudley. “That’s an important piece of exploration for BP we’re very good at. You’ll see us continue to participate in that.”

…

Deep-water production accounts for about 18 percent of BP’s global output. The company is the top deep-water explorer in the Gulf and has taken part in more than 40 percent of the area’s large field discoveries in the past decade, according to its website. It also drills from deep-water fields in Angola. In March, BP bought assets in Brazil as part of a $7 billion deal with Devon Energy Corp.

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