Sep 16 2010
(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | |||
| Tea Party Primaries – Beyond the Palin | |||
| www.thedailyshow.com | |||
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Leave it to Jon and company to point out how the Democrats can “F” up a sure thing. Given the fact that O’Donnell has a 16% chance of winning, that is still 16 percentage points too many. Good luck to Democrat Chris Coons.
Sep 16 2010
“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the t 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.
Joseph E. Stiglitz: Fixing America’s Broken Housing Market
NEW YORK – A sure sign of a dysfunctional market economy is the persistence of unemployment. In the United States today, one out of six workers who would like a full-time job can’t find one. It is an economy with huge unmet needs and yet vast idle resources.
The housing market is another U.S. anomaly: there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people (more than 1.5 million Americans spent at least one night in a shelter in 2009), while hundreds of thousands of houses sit vacant.
Indeed, the foreclosure rate is increasing. Two million Americans lost their homes in 2008, and 2.8 million more in 2009, but the numbers are expected to be even higher in 2010. Our financial markets performed dismally — well-performing, “rational” markets do not lend to people who cannot or will not repay — and yet those running these markets were rewarded as if they were financial geniuses.
None of this is news. What is news is the Obama administration’s reluctant and belated recognition that its efforts to get the housing and mortgage markets working again have largely failed. Curiously, there is a growing consensus on both the left and the right that the government will have to continue propping up the housing market for the foreseeable future. This stance is perplexing and possibly dangerous.
Robert Scheer: After Summers Comes the Fall
When will the president give Lawrence Summers his pink slip? He can thank him for his years of service and use the excuse that his top economic adviser wants to spend more time with his family. I don’t care how he sugarcoats it. But Summers deserves the same fate as the millions of workers laid off because of the banking debacle he helped cause, the dire consequences of which he has done precious little to mitigate.
It was Summers who, as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, pushed through the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which opened the floodgates to the toxic mortgage-backed derivatives that still haunt the economy. The Federal Reserve now holds $2 trillion in junk securities it took off the books of banks. But the financiers who packed those devilish derivatives still hold a huge amount, and the houses they unload every time the housing market shows faint signs of stabilizing keep the economy in the doldrums.
Jeff Kaye: What’s Up with Transparency? Government Hid Report on Drugging of Detainees for Months
A story by Jason Leopold and me, currently up at Truthout, reports that a Department of Defense Office of Inspector General investigation into allegations of drugging of detainees, completed almost exactly a year ago, was nevertheless hidden from public knowledge for months. Its results remain hidden, labeled classified. This is especially strange as this document was publicly requested by no less than now-Vice President (then Senator) Joe Biden, along with Senators Carl Levin and Chuck Hagel, after a couple of articles in 2008 – one by Jeff Stein and one by Joby Warrick at the Washington Post – blew the whistle on dozens of reports of alleged drugging of detainees.
The finished report, entitled “Investigation of Allegations of the Use of Mind-Altering Drugs to Facilitate Interrogations of Detainees,” had been published on September 23, 2009. It was recently posted as finished at the OIG’s website (09-INTEL-13). I know that when I was looking for the progress of the report as recently as last February, for an article I was writing at the time, the investigation was still listed as “in progress.” It also went under another title: “Possible Use of Mind Altering Substances by DoD Personnel during Interrogations of Detainees and/or Prisoners Captured during the War on Terror” (Project No. D2007-DINT01-0092.005). That listing has since expired.
Today I asked Vice President Biden’s office for comment, and am awaiting reply. But on the face of it, no one seems to want to talk about this report. Human rights workers and attorneys who were familiar with the fact of the investigation were quite surprised when I informed them the report had been finished twelve months ago! Multiple FOIA requests have now been made, but I don’t hold out much hope for getting answers to the basic questions around the many charges of drugging of detainees. This administration’s claims about greater transparency seem quite thin, especially when it means investigating their “war on terror” and detainee prison system.
E.J. Dionne, Jr.: The Strange Death of Moderate Republicanism
WILMINGTON, Del.-On the eve of the primary that would end his electoral career, Rep. Mike Castle was in a reflective mood. He seemed calm and confident, yet almost everything he said sounded valedictory as he offered a prescient analysis that explained in advance a defeat that echoed throughout the nation.
A genial and courtly man in the manner of the elder President Bush (who held a fundraiser for him in Kennebunkport), the nine-term congressman was mourning the decline of both the conciliatory style of politics that animated his career and the moderate Republican disposition that the tea party is determined to destroy.
“There are issues on which, as Republicans and Democrats, we should sit down and work out our differences,” Castle said Monday night as we sat outside at Kelly’s Logan House, a watering hole where he has gathered his closest supporters the night before every election since his first victory, for the neighborhood’s state legislative seat, in 1966.
Republicans who might be inclined toward the middle of the road, he said, are petrified of “quick attacks by columnists and the Sean Hannitys of the world. People are very afraid of crossing the line and being called Republicans In Name Only-or worse.” As a result, “not too many members are willing to stand up.”
“Part of it,” he added, “is worry about primaries, and this election has shown the power of very conservative groups.”
Castle’s defeat at the hands of Christine O’Donnell, a perennial candidate who may be the least qualified Senate nominee anywhere in the country, does indeed mark the collapse of the Republican Party not only of Nelson Rockefeller and Tom Dewey, but also of Bob Dole and Howard Baker.
Joe Conason: Clinton’s warning: Tea Party is a corporate front
Stumping in Minnesota, he calls Michele Bachmann “the ultimate example of putting ideology over evidence”
Minneapolis — As Tea Party activists celebrated their upset triumph in Delaware, Bill Clinton showed up in Minneapolis to support the Democrat challenging the insurgent Republican movement’s favorite member of Congress: Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., the founder of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus.
At a late-night fundraiser for state Sen. Tarryl Clark, Clinton described Bachmann as the epitome of a trend he regards as profoundly dangerous to the nation’s future. “Your opponent,” he told Clark, “is the ultimate example of putting ideology over evidence.”
“I respect people with a conservative philosophy,” he continued. “This country has been well-served by having two broad traditions within which people can operate. If you have a philosophy, it means you’re generally inclined one way or the other but you’re open to evidence. If you have an ideology, it means everything is determined by dogma and you’re impervious to evidence. Evidence is irrelevant.
“That’s how I see Rep. Bachmann. She’s very attractive in saying all these things she says, but it’s pretty stupid.”
Gail Collins: Mr. Smith Goes to Anchorage
Autumn in Alaska. Leaves are falling. Glaciers are melting. The walruses have abandoned their vanishing ice floes and are piled up along the coast in a formation that is apparently not dangerous, unless one rolls over at the wrong time.
We do not generally compare Republicans to walruses, but things are unusually crowded in that quarter, too. The Alaskan Republican Party expected to float to an uneventful victory in November with its incumbent senator, Lisa Murkowski. Then she got dumped in the primary by Joe Miller, a Tea Party candidate who wants to eliminate everything federal – from the Department of Agriculture to the student loan program.
Taxpayer rage has, of course, been the rule in Republican primaries lately. But it was hard to predict that the fury would spread to a state that has virtually no taxes.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader who is looking like an endangered species himself lately, threw in with Miller and announced that Murkowski should “move on.” But where can she go? She’s already in Alaska.
NIcholas D. Kristof: A Boy and a Bicycle(s)
Early this year I wrote a column from Zimbabwe that focused on five orphans who moved in together and survive alone in a hut.
The eldest, Abel, a scrawny and malnourished 17-year-old, would rise at 4 o’clock each morning and set off barefoot on a three-hour hike to high school. At nightfall, Abel would return to function as surrogate father: cajoling the younger orphans to finish their homework by firelight, comforting them when sick and spanking them when naughty.
When asked Abel what he dreamed of, he said “a bicycle” – so that he could cut the six hours he spent walking to and from school and, thus, take better care of the younger orphans. Last week, Abel got his wish. A Chicago-based aid organization, Bicycle Relief, distributed 200 bicycles to students in Abel’s area who need them to get to school. One went to Abel.
The initiative is a pilot. If it succeeds and finds financing, tens of thousands of other children in Zimbabwe could also get bicycles to help them attend school.
Sep 16 2010
As I noted last night in Prime Time, I had to turn Joe Biden’s interview with Rachel Maddow off because I can’t really afford a new TV. I wondered if others noticed the savage disconnect between the Institutional Democrats and reality.
Well, Gregg Levine at Firedog Lake did. I’ll spare you the embedded video because I don’t want responsibility for your monitor either, but I’ll quote extensively as it’s a long piece.
Biden Scolds Dem Voters for Enthusiasm Gap; Tells Progressives to "Get in Gear"
By: Gregg Levine, Thursday September 16, 2010 7:00 am
Vice President Joe Biden made room in his busy schedule Wednesday to appear on “The Rachel Maddow Show” to address the much-reported enthusiasm gap between fired-up Tea-publicans and a disappointed Democratic base. How do I know that was his reason? He said so…
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Biden then launches into a list of Democratic accomplishments-tobacco regulation, hate crime laws, insuring kids (SCHIP…)-none of them, as best I recall, ones that were first enacted during the Obama Administration…
…
Actually, Mr. Vice President, you didn’t mention a single thing that your administration or this Democratically controlled 111th Congress has gotten done. You are just telling progressives out there that they “better get energized,” that they “get in gear,” that they “should not stay home” come November.Why? Because. . . because. . . Pete Sessions!
Joe Biden is not saying Democrats need an excited progressive base to win in November, and here is what the administration is going to do to excite them; Biden is saying Dems need an excited base-so the progressive base damn well better get excited. Period.
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He (Obama) brought us goals? Obama gave us the goals? Progressives haven’t been articulating goals since. . . when now? 2006? 2002? 1932? 1916? . . . 1899? OK, maybe Biden just phrased that badly-but still, Joe, what goals have been met, exactly?
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(T)he progressive base hasn’t been warning about the opposition? It has been the progressive blogosphere, far out in front of any Democratic Party organ, that has been telling the establishment that they had created space for the Tea Parties by aligning the White House too closely with the banksters. It was progressives that begged for a bigger stimulus, a jobs agenda, and health care reform that actually helped people and did so before the midterm elections.
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Make no mistake, what Joe Biden was doing last night was blaming progressives now for Democratic losses later.
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Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, I was a consultant-of the branding and marketing variety-and Biden’s performance reminds me of some of my worst clients from those days. These guys (and gals) would sit behind the two-way mirror watching focus groups, and they would deride the respondents and curse about how their stupid target consumers were wrong-wrong!-about their product. It was the consumer who was doing a bad job of understanding the product. It was the consumer that was not paying attention to the right things. It was the consumer that had failed to understand the benefits of these clients’ brands.Those were not successful brands. And without a change in their point of view, they didn’t become successful brands.
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(B)enefits were not what Vice President Biden was selling to Rachel Maddow and her presumably progressive audience on Wednesday. Biden went with fear and loathing, blame and bluster. That strategy didn’t work for my clients in boom times, and it won’t work for Democrats now.
Sep 16 2010
Jon Aravosis @ AMERICAblog Gay points out that the DNC web site on its “Civil Rights” page, no longer mentions the repeal of DOMA which was one of the top three promises made to the GLBT community by Candidate Obama.
# Enacting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which includes measures prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity;
# Ensuring full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples;
# Repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security;
It the DNC now calls for “civil unions”. How about marriage guys?
And WTF does this mean?
Repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security
Meanwhile, Sen. Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have written Attorney General Eric Holder to not appeal Judge Virginia Phillips’ ruling that DADT violates the 1st Amendment.
Dear Mr. Attorney General,
We are writing to bring to your attention the recently issued decision of Judge Virginia A. Phillips of the United States District Court of the Central District of California in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, which declared that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) underlying law violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of due process and free speech, thereby rendering DADT unconstitutional. In light of important national security concerns, we respectfully request that you, in your capacity at the Department of Justice, refrain from appealing this decision or any permanent injunction which may be granted against this law in the near future.
The following quote from the judge’s decision captures the overwhelming reason why the decision should stand: “Among those discharged were many with critically needed skills … Far from furthering the military’s readiness, the discharge of these service men and women had a direct and deleterious effect on this governmental interest.” As one of many criteria that the Justice Department will examine in deciding whether to appeal a potential permanent injunction to this policy, we ask that you examine whether or not an appeal furthers a legitimate governmental interest. We would say any appeal does not.
Additionally, DADT harms military readiness, as well as the morale and the cohesiveness of our armed forces, at a time when our military’s resources are strained and unity is critically important. For every person discharged after ten years of service, six new servicemembers would need to be recruited to recover the level of experience lost by that discharge. This not only weakens our military, but neither is it an effective use of our government resources or taxpayer monies.
President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, have all publicly advocated for the repeal of this harmful law. There is no legal or military justification and not one shred of credible evidence that supports continuing the discriminatory DADT law, and considering the guidance of the commander-in-chief and the nation’s top two defense officials, we urge you to refrain from seeking an appeal. The federal court decision was a step in the right direction, and we are confident that the Senate will take the ultimate step by voting this fall on the fiscal year 2011 National Defense Authorization Act to permanently lift the ban on gays in the military. Although we understand that only action by Congress can bring real finality to this issue, we believe an appeal of the recent federal court decision could set back those congressional efforts. Therefore, we request your assistance in ensuring that we can eradicate this discriminatory law permanently and urge the Justice Department to choose not to appeal any court decision that would keep this law in place.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to hearing from you.
(emphasis mine)
h/t David Dayen @ FDL
Sep 16 2010
This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.
September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 106 days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day in 1932, in his cell at Yerovda Jail near Bombay, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest of the British government’s decision to separate India’s electoral system by caste.A leader in the Indian campaign for home rule, Gandhi worked all his life to spread his own brand of passive resistance across India and the world. By 1920, his concept of Satyagraha (or “insistence upon truth”) had made Gandhi an enormously influential figure for millions of followers. Jailed by the British government from 1922-24, he withdrew from political action for a time during the 1920s but in 1930 returned with a new civil disobedience campaign. This landed Gandhi in prison again, but only briefly, as the British made concessions to his demands and invited him to represent the Indian National Congress Party at a round-table conference in London.
In 1932, through the campaigning of the Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar, the government granted untouchables separate electorates under the new constitution. In protest, Gandhi embarked on a six-day fast in September 1932. The resulting public outcry successfully forced the government to adopt a more equitable arrangement via negotiations mediated by the Dalit cricketer turned political leader Palwankar Baloo. This was the start of a new campaign by Gandhi to improve the lives of the untouchables, whom he named Harijans, the children of God.
1400 – Owain Glyndwr is declared Prince of Wales by his followers.
1701 – James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes called the “Old Pretender”, becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Harlem Heights is fought.
1795 – The first occupation by United Kingdom of Cape Colony, South Africa with the Battle of Hout Bay, after successive victories at the Battle of Muizenberg and Wynberg, after William V requested protection against revolutionary France’s occupation of the Netherlands.
1810 – With the Grito de Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo begins Mexico’s fight for independence from Spain.
1812 – Russians set fire to Moscow shortly after midnight – the city burns down completely days later.
1863 – Robert College of Istanbul-Turkey, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist.
1893 – Settlers race in Oklahoma for prime land in the Cherokee Strip.
1908 – General Motors is founded.
1919 – The American Legion is incorporated.
1920 – The Wall Street bombing: a bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J. P. Morgan building in New York City – 38 are killed and 400 injured.
1941 – World War II: concerned that Reza Pahlavi the Shah of Persia was to align his petroleum-rich country with Germany during World War II, the United Kingdom and the USSR invade Iran in late August and force him to resign in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1945 – World War II: Surrender of the Japanese forces in Hong Kong. The ceremony was presided by British Admiral Cecil Harcourt.
1947 – Typhoon Kathleen hit Saitama, Tokyo and Tone River area, at least 1,930 killed.
1955 – Juan Peron is deposed in Argentina.
1963 – Malaysia is formed from Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak.
1966 – The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City with the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s opera, Antony and Cleopatra.
1970 – King Hussein of Jordan declares military rule following the hijacking of four civilian airliners by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This results in the formation of the Black September Palestinian paramilitary unit.
1975 – Papua New Guinea gains its independence from Australia.
1975 – Cape Verde, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe join the United Nations.
1975 – The first prototype of the MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.
1978 – An earthquake measuring 7.5-7.9 on the Richter scale hits the city of Tabas, Iran killing about 25,000 people.
1980 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join the United Nations.
1982 – Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon.
1987 – The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.
1990 – A rail link between China and Kazakhstan is completed at Dostyk, adding an important connection to the Eurasian Land Bridge.
1991 – The trial of deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega begins in the United States.
1992 – Black Wednesday: the Pound Sterling is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the Deutschmark.
2005 – Camorra boss Paolo Di Lauro is arrested in Naples.
2007 – A deadly shooting in Baghdad involving the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
Sep 16 2010
Ahmadinejad: Iran justified in barring nuclear inspectors
Iranian leader also tells NBC his nation does not need U.S. ‘whatsoever’
NBC News
TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC News on Wednesday that his country was justified in barring further visits by U.N. atomic inspectors and challenged other nations to fully disclose their nuclear activities.
He also rebuffed the threat of new sanctions: “Our nation does not need the United States
More world news
Ahmadinejad: Iran justified in barring nuclear inspectors
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells NBC News that his country was justified in barring further visits by U.N. atomic inspectors and says more sanctions won’t hurt Iran. Full story
Ahmadinejad: Judge should decide fate of hikers
2010 seeing hot temps, less Arctic sea ice
Hundreds of thousands party as Mexico turns 200
U.S.-led troops advance in Taliban stronghold
Were you in the Peace Corps? Share your photos
whatsoever,” he told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell in Tehran.
Pope Benedict XVI set to begin controversial state visit to Britain
By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 15, 2010; 11:43 PM
LONDON – The first state visit by a pope to Britain, a country that unceremoniously broke with the Vatican over Henry VIII’s divorce in the 16th century, seemed doomed to controversy from the start. Months before Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled arrival Thursday, a memo making the rounds at the British Foreign Office suggested that he be invited to preside over a same-sex marriage and visit an abortion clinic while in town
USA
Poll Suggests Opportunities for Both Parties in Midterms
By JEFF ZELENY and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN
Published: September 15, 2010
Republicans are heading into the general election phase of the midterm campaign backed by two powerful currents: the highest proportion of voters in two decades say it is time for their own member of Congress to be replaced, and Americans are expressing widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama’s leadership.
But the latest New York Times/CBS News poll also finds that while voters rate the performance of Democrats negatively, they view Republicans as even worse, providing a potential opening for Democrats to make a last-ditch case for keeping their hold on power.
An American innovation in light bulbs, but will manufacturing stay in the U.S.?
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
IN SATELLITE BEACH, FLA. During the depths of the night, Fred Maxik is often struck by an idea for building a better light bulb. When that happens, he rolls over and scrawls a diagram or a few words on the wall beside his bed with an indelible black marker, a practice his wife tolerates because he offers to repaint their room every six months.
“I don’t want to lose the thought,” says the graying, pony-tailed inventor.Now, in a coup for Maxik and the company here he founded, the object of those pre-dawn inspirations is going on sale at Home Depot, the nation’s largest lighting retailer
Europe
Wasteland: Europe stalked by spectre of mass unemployment
Rise in UK claimants prompts calls for rethink in austerity plans
By Alistair Dawber Thursday, 16 September 2010
The UK’s fragile economic recovery was exposed yesterday by disappointing employment figures and an unexpected rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.The claimant count, which measures the number of people claiming jobseekers’ allowance, increased by 2,300 in August, the first rise since December last year, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics. The jump confounded City forecasts, which had pointed to further declines – and will alarm policy makers, coming as it does in the wake of this week’s IMF warning that Europe risks becoming an employment “wasteland” in which joblessness threatens entire societies.
Sarkozy suggests Roma ‘should be sent to Luxembourg’
Nicolas Sarkozy has sparked a bitter EU row by suggesting that the European Commissioner who compared his Roma policy to Nazi deportations should offer to host expelled gipsies in her native country of Luxembourg.
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Published: 1:05AM BST 16 Sep 2010
Luxembourg reacted with fury as the heated row threatened to engulf the meeting of EU leaders.
“I know that Nicolas Sarkozy has problems with Luxembourgers, but he’s gone too far here,” said Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister.
France has lashed out at Viviane Reding, a Luxembourger and the EU’s justice commissioner, who on Tuesday threatened legal action and described Mr Sarkozy’s treatment of Roma as a “disgrace” that reminded her of Second World War round ups of gipsies and Jews.
“For Nicolas Sarkozy to amalgamate the commissioner’s nationality and Luxembourg is malevolent. She was not talking for Luxembourg and did not take instructions from Luxembourg,” said Mr Asselborn.
Middle East
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani denies torture claims on Iranian TV
Iranian woman facing death by stoning gives new interview amid claims previous confession was forced
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
The Guardian, Thursday 16 September 2010
The Iranian woman facing death by stoning after being convicted for adultery appeared on the Islamic republic’s state TV channel last night to say she has not been whipped or tortured.Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence was suspended in July, was allegedly given 99 lashes on 2 September after the Times ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her, her lawyer said at the time.
Gaza militants launch rocket attacks in effort to derail peace talks
By Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem Thursday, 16 September 2010
Short-range rockets and mortars rained on southern Israel yesterday as militants sought to derail the revived peace process on the second day of talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.Militants in Gaza, the coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, fired at least nine projectiles into Israel, causing no injuries. Israel responded with an air strike on Gaza, killing a 23-year-old Palestinian man.
The upsurge in attacks came during talks in Jerusalem, where Washington is pushing for a breakthrough in the peace process, launched a fortnight ago after nearly two years of stalled negotiations.
Asia
Zardari offers more intelligence to Afghanistan Tahir Khan
The Frontier Post
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday offered more intelligence to neighbouring to check the activities of the militants and ensure peace and security in the two countries and the regions. Zardari made the offer to his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai who arrived in Islamabad on a 2-day visit for talks on security issues and to enhance cooperation against terrorism. “We need more security cooperation between our intelligence and their intelligence, which Pakistan is willing to offer,” Zardari said at a joint press conference with President Karzai after they met in Islamabad. “We talked about future of our coming generations. I am hopeful that we will be able to see their share dream of betterment of Pakistanis and Afghans,” he said.
How North Korea was lost – to China
By Aidan Foster-Carter
Who lost North Korea? The question may sound odd, even impertinent. It carries echoes of a similar question that was bruited next door, 60 years ago, when North Korea was new.Then, the question was: Who lost China? That was how some in the United States put it. They were anguished and angry that their man, Chiang Kai-shek, had unaccountably been chased off the mainland by an unknown communist upstart called Mao Zedong. In the emerging Cold War, which rapidly dissolved the pre-1945 anti-fascist global alliance, the world’s most populous nation had in this view fallen on the wrong side of the fence. USSR 1, USA 0 – or so it seemed.
Africa
Guinea postpones presidential election run-off
Guinean authorities have postponed a presidential election run-off, casting doubts on the West African state’s bid to return to civilian rule
Published: 12:55AM BST 16 Sep 2010
Street battles left one dead and 50 injured this week as rival political camps traded accusations of attempted vote-rigging, while turmoil within the election body itself had made a delay to Sunday’s poll look increasingly inevitable.
Election officials emerging from hours of talks in the capital Conakry blamed the postponement on a lack of necessary voting equipment and said it could take up to two weeks for arrangements to be in place.
“This is a hope that has been unfulfilled, an important opportunity that has gone by the wayside,” said junta leader Sekouba Konate, who has won international plaudits for his decision to relinquish power.
Copenhagen climate change summit effort fruitless, says Kibaki
THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00KENYAN President Mwai Kibaki has urged parliamentarians from the 54 Commonwealth countries to lobby their respective governments to urgently consider passing a new climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.
The Kenyan leader, who addressed the opening session of the 56th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) in Nairobi, according to the Pan-African News Agency (PANA), called the December 2009 UN Climate Change Summit in the Danish capital, Copenhagen “an effort in vain.”
“Climate change continues to threaten our environment. The Denmark conference ended in vain,” Kibaki said.
Latin America
High security alert for Mexico bicentennial
Mexico is celebrating the bicentennial of its independence with parties across the country.
The BBC 16 September 2010
However, security is high in many regions, with some towns and cities cancelling or cutting back festivities amid fears of drug cartel violence.
The celebrations mark the 1810 uprising that paved the way for the end of Spanish rule in 1821.Wednesday’s show of concerts, parades and fireworks in Mexico City is said to be the largest of its kind in Mexico.
‘Living in fear’
The festivities in the capital kicked off with a group of shamans dressed in white robes and feathers carrying out a pre-Hispanic fire ritual.
Sep 16 2010
I dunno, I think your best bet is gloating with Keith and Rachel tonight.
Later-
Jon has Jon Hamm, Stephen Saul Griffith. Alton does Rice and Beans (they’re better than you think). Boondocks– Smokin’ With Cigarettes.
It all started on the day that I died. If there had been an obituary, it would have described the unremarkable life of an unremarkable woman, survived by no one. But there was no obituary, because the day that I died was also the day I started to live. But that comes later. This was my life. Days blended together, consistently ordinary, thanks to a job that was the practical version of my passion. I was supposed to be an artist by now. Instead, I was designing ads for beauty cream.
The day I died was the day I started to live. In my old life, I longed for someone to see what was special in me. You did, and for that, you’ll always be in my heart. But what I really needed was for me to see it. And now I do. You’re a good man, Tom. But you live in a world that has no place for someone like me. You see, sometimes I’m good. Oh, I’m very good. But sometimes I’m bad. But only as bad as I wanna be. Freedom is power. To live a life untamed and unafraid is the gift that I’ve been given, and so my journey begins.
Sep 16 2010
Evening Edition is an Open Thread
| From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Seven civilians killed in US-Iraqi raid
by Azhar Shalal, AFP
Wed Sep 15, 11:46 am ET
| FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) – Seven civilians were among 18 people killed in Iraq on Wednesday, shot dead as US and Iraqi troops tried to nab a top Al-Qaeda leader in Fallujah, sparking public anger in the former rebel base.
Two Iraqi soldiers were also killed in the firefight west of Baghdad, while a roadside bomb in northern Iraq claimed the lives of nine other troops travelling home on leave. The latest violence comes two weeks after Washington declared an official end to combat operations here, and with no new government having formed since elections in March. |
2 US-Iraq raid, roadside bombing kill 18
by Azhar Shalal Azhar Shalal – Wed Sep 15, 10:08 am ET
| FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) – Violence killed 18 people in Iraq on Wednesday, including nine in a firefight that broke out during a joint US-Iraq raid in search of a top Al-Qaeda leader in the former rebel base of Fallujah.
Nine soldiers were also killed in a bomb attack in northern Iraq, just two weeks after Washington declared an official end to combat operations here and with no new government yet formed since a March general election. In Fallujah, seven civilians and two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a gunfight between insurgents and a joint Iraq-US force early on Wednesday morning. |
3 US Republicans see Senate takeover hopes dim
by Olivier Knox, AFP
1 hr 21 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama’s Republican foes on Wednesday picked over the results of a shock Tea Party primary win that, analysts said, all but wiped out their thin hopes of retaking the US Senate.
Establishment Republicans once eager to harness the insurgent conservative movement and ride its unbridled energy to a romp in the November 2 elections worried its outsider candidates would now alienate swing voters key to victory. At issue was the fight over Vice President Joe Biden’s old senate seat, in which Tea Party political novice Christine O’Donnell soundly beat veteran Representative Mike Castle in Tuesday’s Republican party primary. |
4 Sarkozy fury over EU attack on Roma round-up
by Dave Clark, AFP
Wed Sep 15, 11:42 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) – President Nicolas Sarkozy reacted furiously Wednesday after the European Commission compared France’s expulsion of Roma Gypsies to the tactics of its World War II pro-Nazi regime.
France has been under fire for weeks over Sarkozy’s controversial drive to deport ethnic Roma living in travelling communities in France back to Romania and Bulgaria, and Paris now faces the threat of European legal action. An EU founder member that boasts of being the homeland of human rights, France was shocked when Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding of Luxembourg Tuesday condemned the clampdown in stark terms. |
5 France, Airbus say WTO rules against Boeing in subsidy
by Alexandra Troubnikoff, AFP
2 hrs 33 mins ago
| GENEVA (AFP) – France and European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said Wednesday the World Trade Organization had ruled that US subsidies paid to Boeing were illegal, citing an interim finding on a multi-billion dollar complaint brought by the European Union.
Airbus promptly called on its US rival to end the row and negotiate new funding rules for the aerospace industry. The EU likewise insisted that only negotiations at the highest political levels could resolve the acrimonious spat over US and EU state support, which has dogged the two biggest players in the aerospace industry, Boeing and Airbus, since 2004. |
6 BP boss defends safety record to British MPs
by Danny Kemp, AFP
Wed Sep 15, 12:51 pm ET
| LONDON (AFP) – Outgoing BP chief Tony Hayward defended the firm’s safety procedures as British MPs grilled him over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill Wednesday, saying the company had never envisaged a disaster of its size.
Hayward said the spill — the worst environmental catastrophe in US history — was “devastating” to him personally but denied that there had been any cost-cutting at the energy giant in the run-up to the accident. But he admitted to a parliamentary committee that BP was reviewing its risk assessment procedures and also its relationship with contractors, blamed by the firm for problems with the rig and well. |
7 Reinsurers float 20-billion-dollar plan for BP-type blowout
by Thomas Urbain, AFP
Tue Sep 14, 4:16 pm ET
| MONACO (AFP) – A scheme floated here at an annual meeting of giants in the insurance industry could come up with a 20-billion-dollar insurance payout if an oil rig blows up, kills people and spreads pollution.
By comparison, British oil group BP estimates that the direct civil costs of dealing with the fatal explosion of its Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico and ensuing pollution could amount to about 32 billion dollars (24.8 billion euros). BP, in common with some other oil companies, had switched to insuring itself, on the basis that the insurance premiums saved would match any eventual disaster costs. |
8 Abuse victims appeal to pope before historic visit
by Guy Jackson, AFP
Wed Sep 15, 11:01 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) – Victims of paedophile priests called Wednesday on the eve of a historic visit to Britain by Pope Benedict XVI for the Vatican to hand over information on their treatment.
The pope hopes to improve strained links between Catholics and Anglicans during the four-day trip, but in a sign of the protests he will face, abuse victims demanded he go further than offering an apology for their treatment. Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: “We need the Pope to say, ‘I will hand over all the information I have about abusing priests wherever they are in the world. I will hand it over to the authorities of the countries where these people are being protected.'” |
9 Insurgent US ‘Tea Party’ scores another upset
AFP
Wed Sep 15, 10:10 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) – US “Tea Party” conservatives scored another upset Tuesday, as a political novice routed a veteran lawmaker to become the Republican contender for Vice President Joe Biden’s old senate seat.
With all precincts reporting, unofficial results showed Christine O’Donnell had beaten moderate Representative Mike Castle by a 53.1-46.9 percent margin in the Republican primary in the small US East Coast state of Delaware. “The voters in the Republican primary have spoken and I respect that decision,” Castle said in a somber concession speech after the bitter, weeks-long battle. He did not endorse his rival. |
10 Japan moves to weaken yen
by David Watkins, AFP
Wed Sep 15, 9:38 am ET
| TOKYO (AFP) – Japan on Wednesday stepped into the currency markets for the first time since 2004 in a bid to stem the yen’s appreciation against the dollar and help safeguard a faltering recovery.
The strident move came a day after Prime Minister Naoto Kan reaffirmed his leadership in a ruling party election victory over Ichiro Ozawa, a heavyweight political rival seen as more likely than Kan to take firm action. The yen fell to as low as 85.52 to the dollar following the yen-selling intervention, which was triggered by the Japanese unit’s earlier surge to a fresh 15-year high of 82.86. |
11 Afghans demonstrate over Koran burning
by Massoud Hossaini, AFP
Wed Sep 15, 6:02 am ET
| KABUL (AFP) – Hundreds of Afghans poured onto the streets of Kabul Wednesday to protest plans — cancelled days ago — by a US church to burn copies of the Koran, officials and witnesses said.
The demonstrators threw rocks at anti-riot police after the officers prevented them from marching towards the city centre, Zemarai Bashary, the interior ministry spokesman said. Three police officers were injured by stones and pieces of wood thrown by the protesters, he said, adding that 10 demonstrators were also hurt in the melee. |
12 Republicans take stock after Tea Party stunner
By John Whitesides, Reuters
18 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Divided Republicans pointed fingers and vowed to regroup on Wednesday after a stunning Tea Party upset in Delaware dealt a blow to their hopes of recapturing U.S. Senate control in November.
Conservative upstart Christine O’Donnell’s defeat of nine-term U.S. Representative Michael Castle in a Senate primary ended the career of one of the last Republican moderates in Congress and set off a round of Democratic celebrations. The loss by Castle, who had been expected to cruise to victory in the November 2 election, bolstered Democratic efforts to keep the Senate seat long held by Vice President Joe Biden and made it tougher for Republicans to pick up the 10 Democratic seats they need for a Senate majority. |
13 Special Report: Blue-collar, unemployed and seeing red
By James B. Kelleher, Reuters
Wed Sep 15, 8:09 am ET
| FERNDALE, Michigan (Reuters) – Scott Stevenson was only 10 years old when he first heard grown-ups voice the gloomy words that, in retrospect, predicted the disappointing arc his life has taken.
“I remember them actually telling us that our generation would be the first not to be better off than our parents,” said the 39-year-old Stevenson. “It was fifth grade and I remember thinking, ‘How do you know?'” Three decades later, the pessimistic prognostication he was so quick to dismiss as a boy now seems, as he put it, “like a prophecy.” |
14 Japan intervenes to drag down yen, warns of more
By Charlotte Cooper and Shinji Kitamura, Reuters
2 hrs 6 mins ago
| TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan intervened in global currency markets on Wednesday to sell yen for the first time in six years in a bid to stop its relentless rise from threatening a fragile economic recovery.
After this week’s victory in a party leadership contest, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan appeared to be stepping up efforts to wrench the country out of deflation by targeting the yen’s strength which has weighed on stock prices and corporate profits. But Japan’s solo move could complicate delicate efforts to encourage China to let its currency float freely. European officials said coordinated action was a more effective means of adjusting exchange rates and a U.S. lawmaker called Japan’s action “deeply disturbing”. |
15 U.S. industry, lawmakers urge action on China’s yuan
By Doug Palmer and Paul Eckert, Reuters
14 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. industry and senior Democrats ratcheted up pressure on Congress on Wednesday for a tough new trade law to punish China for what they see as an undervalued currency that threatens American jobs and profits.
The chorus of complaints is part of a renewed drive for a bill that would slap duties on Chinese imports to force Beijing to let its yuan currency rise, an election-year bid by U.S. lawmakers to show voters they are serious about reviving the struggling economy. While congressional efforts to pressure China over its currency have yielded little in the past, U.S. anger over the issue is now so strong that political analysts are not ruling out action before the November 2 congressional elections. |
16 BP CEO defends BP safety record under MP grilling
By Tom Bergin and Dan Fineren, Reuters
2 hrs 1 min ago
| LONDON (Reuters) – BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward defended the oil giant’s safety culture under a grilling from British members of parliament as UK regulators released dozens of documents questioning the company’s record.
Cost cuts were not behind the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the accident highlighted industry failings rather than flaws particular to BP, Hayward told a UK parliamentary committee on Wednesday “It’s been easy for some parties to suggest that this is a problem with BP. I emphatically do not believe that that is the case,” Hayward told the Energy and Climate Change Committee. |
17 Tea Party Republican has big lead in Florida
By Steve Holland, Reuters
32 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican candidate Marco Rubio has opened a clear lead in a Florida Senate race, becoming the latest Tea Party favorite to benefit from voter anger at Washington, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Wednesday.
Six weeks before November 2 congressional elections, Rubio leads state Governor Charlie Crist, an independent, by 40 percent to 26 percent among likely voters, the poll found. Democrat Kendrick Meek trails at 21 percent. The conservative Tea Party roiled Republican politics when a little-known candidate backed by the movement beat a veteran lawmaker in Delaware on Tuesday in the race to decide the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in November. |
18 Protests raise security stakes before Afghan poll
By Hamid Shalizi and Tim Gaynor, Reuters
Wed Sep 15, 10:56 am ET
| KABUL (Reuters) – At least one person was killed when police fired into the air to disperse angry anti-U.S. protesters in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, highlighting security concerns three days before a parliamentary election.
The Taliban have threatened to disrupt the poll and Western observers also fear fraud will tarnish the vote. Afghanistan’s own election watchdog warned of a “disputatious” process. The election for 249 seats in the wolesi jirga, or lower house, is a test of stability in Afghanistan ahead of President Barack Obama’s strategy review in December, a review that will likely examine the pace and scale of U.S. troop withdrawals. |
19 Special Report: Has Roche got the right medicine?
By Ben Hirschler and Katie Reid, Reuters
Wed Sep 15, 11:49 am ET
| BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) – Last summer, the leaders of some of the world’s top drugmakers buttonholed Roche Chief Executive Severin Schwan and tried, unsuccessfully, to get him to change his mind.
The Swiss company — arguably the world’s most admired pharmaceuticals group, with an enviable list of drug successes — had just announced it was quitting the U.S. industry lobby group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) to join the biotechnology association BIO. It was a startling move by the youthful Schwan, a softly spoken lawyer by training with a background in economics. In effect, the boss was ditching Roche Holding AG’s century-old identity as a traditional drugmaker and declaring it different from the rest of the industry. |
20 Obama eyes options for naming Warren as regulator
By Caren Bohan and Dave Clarke, Reuters
Tue Sep 14, 8:23 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama edged closer to naming Wall Street critic Elizabeth Warren as his new top consumer financial watchdog on Tuesday, but lawmakers were split over how he should do it.
Obama is deciding whether to pick Warren, a Harvard law professor and outspoken consumer advocate backed by liberals but reviled by bankers, as interim chief of the new consumer financial protection agency or risk a full-blown Senate confirmation battle. However he does it, the choice of Warren, which could be announced as early as this week, would set up a messy fight with Republicans before the November 2 congressional elections. |
21 One for the establishment: Ayotte wins NH GOP nod
By NORMA LOVE and DAVID ESPO, Associated Press Writers
51 mins ago
| In the last turn of a tumultuous primary season, former New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte narrowly won her state’s Republican Senate primary, to the relief of party officials in Washington who were struggling to adjust to the demise of their preferred candidate in another big race in Delaware.
Seven weeks before Election Day, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that “turnout and enthusiasm are off the charts” across the nation and would benefit a resurgent GOP on Nov. 2. But at the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs said “intraparty Republican anger” – most recently evident in Christine O’Donnell’s defeat of veteran Rep. Michael Castle in Delaware – would help President Barack Obama’s Democratic allies in their quest to retain their majorities in Congress. |
22 Feds probe time it took to shut down gas pipe
By JASON DEAREN and JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer
54 mins ago
| SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Federal investigators are examining whether Pacific Gas & Electric workers followed proper emergency procedures after a gas transmission line exploded into an inferno that killed at least four people and destroyed nearly 40 homes in a San Francisco suburb.
National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Christopher Hart said that constructing a timeline of how PG&E crews reacted would be important to determining why it took the utility nearly two hours to turn off the gas that fueled last week’s devastating blaze. “We will be looking at how quickly and effectively they responded, and that’s one of the reasons the timeline is so important to us,” Hart said. |
23 CA files lawsuit against leaders of troubled city
By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer
11 mins ago
| LOS ANGELES – The California attorney general’s office sued eight former and current Bell city officials on Wednesday, accusing them of fraud, conspiracy and wasting taxpayers money by approving huge salary increases for themselves.
The suit demands city officials, including former City Manager Robert Rizzo and three current council members, return hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bloated salaries. The legal action also calls for a reduction of pension benefits that were based on the high salaries. |
24 APNewsBreak: Wis. prosecutor ‘sexted’ abuse victim
By RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer
12 mins ago
| CHILTON, Wis. – A prominent Wisconsin district attorney sent repeated text messages trying to spark an affair with a domestic abuse victim while he was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend, a police report shows.
The 26-year-old woman complained last year to police after receiving 30 texts from Calumet County District Attorney Kenneth Kratz in three days, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press. “Are you the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA … the riskier the better?” Kratz, 50, wrote in a message to Stephanie Van Groll in October 2009. In another, he wrote: “I would not expect you to be the other woman. I would want you to be so hot and treat me so well that you’d be THE woman! R U that good?” |
25 BP well could be pronounced dead within days
By HARRY R. WEBER and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writers
30 mins ago
| KENNER, La. – The blown-out well at the bottom of Gulf of Mexico could be pronounced dead in a matter of days.
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man for the oil spill, said Wednesday that the relief well BP has been drilling all summer long should intersect the ruptured well within 24 hours. He said mud and cement will then be pumped in, sealing the hole once and for all by Sunday. “We are within a 96-hour window of killing the well,” Allen said nearly five months after the disaster unfolded with an explosion aboard an offshore drilling rig April 20 that killed 11 workers. |
26 Bans on fake pot do little to deter business
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 31 mins ago
| COLUMBIA, Mo. – Authorities in 13 states thought they were acting to curb a public health threat when they outlawed a form of synthetic marijuana known as K2, a concoction of dried herbs sprayed with chemicals.
But before the laws took effect, many stores that did a brisk business in fake pot had already gotten around the bans by making slight changes to K2’s chemical formula, creating knockoffs with names such as “K3,” “Heaven Scent” and “Syn.” “It’s kind of pointless,” said University of Missouri sophomore Brittany May after purchasing a K2 alternative called “BoCoMo Dew” at a Columbia smoke shop. “They’re just going to come up with another thing.” |
27 AP-GfK Poll: Climate for GOP keeps getting better
By LIZ “Sprinkles” SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer
24 mins ago
| WASHINGTON – Tilted toward the GOP from the start of the year, the political environment has grown even more favorable for Republicans and rockier for President Barack Obama and his Democrats over the long primary season that just ended with a bang.
With November’s matchups set and the general election campaign beginning in earnest Wednesday, an Associated Press-GfK poll found that more Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction than did before the nomination contests got under way in February. Also, more now disapprove of the job Obama is doing. And more now want to see Republicans in control of Congress rather than the Democrats who now run the House and Senate. The country’s pessimism benefits the out-of-power GOP, which clearly has enthusiasm on its side. Far more people voted this year in Republicans primaries than in Democratic contests, and the antiestablishment tea party coalition has energized the GOP even as it has sprung a series of primary surprises. |
28 Firefight involving US-Iraq forces leaves 6 dead
By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press Writer
30 mins ago
| BAGHDAD – For the second time in less than a week, U.S. forces were drawn into deadly fighting against insurgents – a reminder of the ongoing dangers American forces face well after President Barack Obama declared a formal end to combat.
With a persistent insurgency, ongoing sectarian tensions and no agreement on a new government after six months of wrangling, stabilizing Iraq before all American forces leave still seems a distant dream. Wednesday’s raid, in which at least six people were killed, was in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah – highlighting the persistent danger that al-Qaida-linked militants still pose despite years of efforts by both Iraqi and U.S. forces to root them out. |
29 More House Democrats call for tax cuts for all
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
1 min ago
| WASHINGTON – More Democrats joined Republicans on Wednesday in calling for the preservation of tax breaks for Americans of every income level, bolting this election season from President Barack Obama’s plan to preserve cuts for those who earn less than $200,000 and let taxes for the wealthy rise.
“We should not be raising taxes in the middle of a recession,” Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., who’s facing tough odds in his bid for a fourth term, wrote in a terse letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “It is essential that we keep things as they are in the short term,” said Rep. Travis W. Childers, D-Miss., another conservative incumbent in a tight race, whose district, like Marshall’s, voted for Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential race. |
30 BP’s Hayward defends safety record to UK lawmakers
By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 15, 12:18 pm ET
| LONDON – Outgoing BP CEO Tony Hayward defended his company’s safety record Wednesday in the face of questions from British lawmakers, and said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill should not lead to a universal ban on deepwater drilling.
Hayward gave evidence to a British parliamentary committee, months after he offered few explanations for the accident at a testy hearing in Washington. The head of the British committee eschewed the confrontational tone adopted by U.S. legislators, but gently pressed Hayward and BP’s head of safety Mark Bly – author of the company’s internal report into the spill – for specifics on the mistakes that contributed to the accident. |
31 Pakistani printers make fake Afghan voting cards
By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 15, 8:57 am ET
| PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Printers in this city near the Afghan border say they have produced thousands of fake voter registration cards at the request of Afghan politicians for use in that country’s parliamentary elections on Saturday.
The cards, some shown to The Associated Press, add to evidence that fraud could undermine the elections and further destabilize the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. A fraud-marred presidential election last year threatened the credibility of the Afghan administration at home and with the Western nations waging war on the country’s resurgent Taliban. |
32 States cutting benefits for public-sector retirees
By GEOFF MULVIHILL and SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press Writers
1 hr 56 mins ago
| TRENTON, N.J. – William Liberty began as a trash collector in Lindenwold 37 years ago and worked his way up to public works supervisor. Until recently, he figured he would hold on to the job until he turned 65.
But last week, at 62, he was preparing his retirement papers, joining a rush among New Jersey public employees. Liberty’s reason for getting out now: He is feeling the sting of a campaign by Republican Gov. Chris Christie and a growing number of other public officials across the U.S. to balance their budgets by making government employment – and retirement – less lucrative. |
33 Dems gamble by shifting fire from Bush to Boehner
By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 15, 6:30 am ET
| WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has frequently reminded Americans that the nation’s economic crisis began under George W. Bush, a largely unpopular and universally known foil. Now all but ignoring Bush, Obama is criticizing a Republican most voters have never heard of: House Minority Leader John Boehner.
The shift represents a gamble for Democrats, and a tacit acknowledgment that bashing Bush – doing so helped them win big victories in 2006 and 2008 – has basically lost its magic. The risk for Obama and fellow Democrats is that millions of Americans will scratch their heads when they hear Boehner’s name (pronounced BAY’-nur). Democratic strategists, however, say the White House has few choices. |
34 Democrat Brown releases 1st ads attacking Whitman
By SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 9:55 pm ET
| SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Democrat Jerry Brown on Tuesday released his first attack ads against rival Meg Whitman, portraying the Republican candidate as the notoriously lying Pinocchio with her attacks against him in the close race for California governor.
The ads signify a shift by the Brown campaign to respond to a barrage of ads the billionaire Whitman has aired since June, including her most recent negative ad which features 1992 footage of former President Bill Clinton criticizing Brown’s record during the Democratic presidential primary. “I think it’s a very graphic reminder that Ms. Whitman is telling lies,” Brown told reporters before heading into a fundraiser in Sacramento. “It’s a way of saying, ‘Don’t believe what she says.'” |
35 Study: To save tigers, protect key breeding areas
By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 15, 2:01 am ET
| JAKARTA, Indonesia – Conservationists must protect tiger populations in a few concentrated breeding grounds in Asia instead of trying to safeguard vast, surrounding landscapes, if they want to save the big cats from extinction, scientists said.
Only about 3,500 tigers are left in the wild worldwide, less than one third of them breeding females, according to one of the authors of the study, John Robinson of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Much has been done to try to save the world’s largest cat – threatened by over-hunting, habitat loss and the wildlife trade – but their numbers have continued to spiral downward for nearly two decades. |
36 Chicago police officers rally against dept. head
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer
23 mins ago
| CHICAGO – Several hundred officers rallied outside Chicago police headquarters on Wednesday and called for the city’s top police official to step down, saying initiatives he pushed through after joining the force three years ago have put their lives in danger and the community at risk.
The police unions and many among the force’s rank-and-file have been suspicious of Superintendent Jody Weis since he was asked by Mayor Richard Daley in 2007 to leave the FBI to lead the police force in the nation’s third largest city. In a show of force Friday, more than 300 officers marched in the city’s South Side neighborhood, with many carrying signs with slogans such as “More Police, No Weis,” and, simply, “Resign.” Several on-duty officers drove by waving and holding up their fists in support. |
37 Mass. bullying suspect seeks dismissal of charges
By STEPHANIE REITZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 23 mins ago
| NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Grand jury evidence doesn’t support the charges against a Massachusetts teen accused of bullying a 15-year-old classmate who committed suicide, her attorney said Wednesday.
Michael Jennings said he will ask a judge to review the grand jury minutes and dismiss the charges against Kayla Narey, 17. An attorney for Sean Mulveyhill, another teen charged in the case, said he might file a similar motion. Narey and Mulveyhill appeared briefly Wednesday in Hampshire Superior Court, where both are charged in connection with events before the January suicide of South Hadley High School freshman Phoebe Prince. |
38 O’Donnell hopes for GOP unity after bitter primary
By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 15, 1:41 pm ET
| DOVER, Del. – Surprise GOP Senate primary winner Christine O’Donnell called on fellow Republicans to rally around her Wednesday, but she can count out at least one – respected longtime Rep. Michael Castle, her opponent in the nasty primary fight.
The tea party-backed O’Donnell sounded upbeat as she made the rounds of morning talk shows to discuss her stunning upset of Castle, a former two-term governor who is the longest-serving congressman in state history and had never lost an election. “We have to rise above this nastiness and unify for the greater good, because there’s a lot of work to be done, and there are a lot of people who want to get involved if the Republican Party would,” O’Donnell told The Associated Press in an interview. |
39 Ford Super Duty truck has awesome "pull"
By ANN M. JOB, For The Associated Press
Wed Sep 15, 11:05 am ET
| Get ready to retrieve your jaw from the floor. The 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks generate a jaw-dropping 735 foot-pounds of torque – enough to tow more than 20,000 pounds of trailers, heavy-duty equipment and the biggest, most impressive fifth-wheel campers around.
This is 85 more foot-pounds than the previous Power Stroke diesel in Ford’s brawniest F-Series trucks. The revamped-for-2011 heavy-duty Ford pickups also are more refined and have more electronics to tailor them to personal tastes than does any competitor. Even Internet connectivity and computer workstation capability, complete with printer, are available in the Super Duty trucks. |
40 ‘Appalled’ Pa. gov. shuts down reports on protests
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 15, 3:02 am ET
| HARRISBURG, Pa. – Information about an anti-BP candlelight vigil, a gay and lesbian festival and other peaceful gatherings became the subject of anti-terrorism bulletins being distributed by Pennsylvania’s homeland security office, an apologetic Gov. Ed Rendell admitted.
Rendell, who claimed he’d just learned about the practice, said Tuesday that the information was useless to law enforcement agencies and that distributing it was tantamount to trampling on constitutional rights. In recent weeks, several acts of vandalism at drilling sites spurred the inclusion of events likely to be attended by environmentalists and the bulletins began going to representatives of Pennsylvania’s booming natural gas industry. A Philadelphia rally organized by a nonprofit group to support Rendell’s push for higher spending on public schools even made a bulletin, as did drilling protests at a couple of Rendell’s news conferences this month as he toured the state to boost support for a tax on the natural gas industry. |
41 Who’s a family? New study tracks shifting US views
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
Wed Sep 15, 12:01 am ET
| NEW YORK – As much as Americans revere the family, they differ sharply on how to define it.
New research being released Wednesday shows steadily increasing recognition of unmarried couples – gay and straight – as families. But there’s a solid core resisting this trend who are more willing to include pets in their definition than same-sex partners. How “family” is defined is a crucial question on many levels. Beyond the debate over same-sex marriage, it affects income tax filings, adoption and foster care practices, employee benefits, inheritance rights and countless other matters. |
42 Texas panel ready to end disputed arson inquiry
By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 8:51 pm ET
| DALLAS – A state commission that planned last year to review a report finding fault with an arson investigation that led to a Texas man’s execution – until Gov. Rick Perry reshuffled the panel – is now considering a report with a much different conclusion.
A revamped Texas Forensic Science Commission, led by a Perry appointee, meets Friday in Dallas to debate a report that finds fire investigators did not commit professional negligence or misconduct. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report through an open records request. If approved, the report would end the commission’s inquiry into the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Willingham was put to death in 2004 on Perry’s watch 12 years after being convicted of deliberately setting a fire that killed his three young children. |
43 Mass. doc gets 6 months in abortion patient death
By DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs Writer
Tue Sep 14, 7:52 pm ET
| BARNSTABLE, Mass. – A doctor was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the case of a woman who died after he performed an abortion on her.
Dr. Rapin Osathanondh was sentenced in the 2007 death of 22-year-old Laura Hope Smith. He pleaded guilty in a Massachusetts court Monday, just as his trial was about to begin. Smith was 13 weeks pregnant when she went to see Osathanondh for an abortion in his Cape Cod office. She was pronounced dead later that day. |
44 Dead Sea Scrolls debate spurs NY criminal trial
By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 7:32 pm ET
| NEW YORK – The dispute was about ancient history. But the tactics someone used to cast aspersions on a prominent Judaic studies scholar couldn’t have been more modern.
New York University professor Lawrence Schiffman’s students and colleagues started getting panicked and confessional e-mails, in his name, that pointed them to blog posts accusing him of plagiarism. Prosecutors say the e-mails and website posts were a hoax created by a lawyer on an idiosyncratic mission: to champion his father and discredit Schiffman in a debate over the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The attorney, Raphael Golb, went on trial Tuesday on criminal charges of online impersonation and harassment for the sheer sake of coloring opinion. The case is a rarity: While impersonation claims have generated civil lawsuits, prosecutions are few unless phony identities are used to steal money, experts say. |
45 Voting machines face tough 1st test in NY primary
By SARA KUGLER FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 7:17 pm ET
| NEW YORK – In New York, the last state to comply with a federal law calling for simpler voting, the switch to a fill-in-the-dot ballot fed into machines had a bumpy start, with scattered reports of delays caused by flustered poll workers and malfunctioning equipment.
Instead of pulling levers – as New Yorkers had done for 80 years – polling sites presented voters Tuesday with the new ballots and two scanners at each polling station. Where the machines worked, voters shrugged and mostly agreed the new system was easy to use. But problems elsewhere caused backups and frustration. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who did not vote Tuesday because he is not registered with any party, called the reports “disturbing.” |
46 Years after floods, homeowners await FEMA buyouts
By KEN KUSMER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 7:14 pm ET
| SEELYVILLE, Ind. – Karen Niece loves her idyllic bungalow in the Indiana countryside, but when storms dumped nearly a foot of rain on her 19-acre property in 2008, flash floods left mold in the foundation – and gave Niece a lung infection she will have the rest of her life.
After the water receded, Niece and thousands of other flood victims around the Midwest stayed in their damaged homes, despite health risks, because they had pinned their hopes on a federal program that helps buy flood-damaged properties. Two and even three years later, many are still waiting for relief. “I really don’t want to leave, but I don’t want to get sicker,” the 66-year-old homemaker said, sitting at her kitchen counter about 60 miles southwest of Indianapolis. “But I haven’t heard anything. I don’t know what they’ll do or if they’ll do anything.” |
47 Blagojevich asks judge to nullify conviction
By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 6:31 pm ET
| CHICAGO – Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has asked a judge to nullify the lone conviction in his mostly deadlocked corruption trial, saying the jury’s decision was underpinned by errors at trial and misconduct by prosecutors.
Trial Judge James Zagel should override jurors’ verdict and acquit Blagojevich of lying to the FBI or set it aside and try him again on that charge, defense attorneys said in a motion filed at the U.S. District Court in Chicago. “The fact is that the government knew – and knows – that Blagojevich was not lying to the FBI,” says the motion, filed late Monday. “The conviction in this case is not legally sound.” |
48 Defense: Marine Corps helped Haditha prosecution
By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 5:36 pm ET
| CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Defense lawyers for a Marine whose squad killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha alleged Tuesday that the Marine Corps unfairly allowed the prosecution’s team of military lawyers to remain on active duty, but denied the same request for the defense.
The Marine Corps refused to postpone the retirement in 2008 of former Marine Haytham Faraj and retired Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey as the case dragged on for five years. They continued to represent Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich as a civilian lawyers but say they were limited in their abilities. “We just don’t have the resources that we had when we were in uniform,” Faraj told a military judge at Camp Pendleton. |
49 Judge weighs gov’t terror case witness testimony
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 14, 5:00 pm ET
| NEW YORK – A Tanzanian man who admitted he provided explosives used in attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa wanted to “clear his heart” by testifying against the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in a civilian court, an FBI agent said Tuesday.
The agent, Philip Swabsin, described his interviews with the Tanzanian man, Hussein Abebe, during a hearing to determine whether Abebe can testify at the trial of detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. Ghailani is charged in the 1998 bombings, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. Defense lawyers oppose the government’s plan to call Abebe as a witness on the grounds that prosecutors coerced him into testifying. Authorities learned about Abebe only after Ghailani made statements when he was subjected to “enhanced interrogation” at a CIA-run camp overseas after his 2004 arrest, the defense attorneys say. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA used 10 harsh methods, including waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning. |
Sep 15 2010
First of all, the reasons the Beltway pundits and bloggers are concentrating on O’Donnell’s defeat of Castle is that it’s in their backyard, the margin was huge, and those idiots really didn’t expect it because they have no fucking clue how much we hate their elite corporatist butt-kissing asses.
But if you really want to do a little celebrating I’d like to draw your attention to two less covered and more positive victories last night.
The first is Ann Kuster’s 42% margin over Katrina Swett in New Hampshire’s 2nd District-
Kuster handily defeated self-styled Blue Dog Katrina Swett, who co-chaired Joe Lieberman’s 2004 presidential campaign. Kuster, a lawyer, community activist and women’s health expert, had the support of progressive groups like MoveOn, Democracy for America, Progressive Campaign Change Committee and EMILY’s List. Swett ran hard to Kuster’s right and tried to paint Kuster’s progressive supporters as an electoral liability.
The second is the abject FAILURE of Mike Bloomberg’s hand picked Wall Street Representative Reshma Saujani in her race against Carolyn Maloney in New York’s 14th District.
There is some really twisted logic behind the notion that Obama would be vulnerable in 2012 if the economy’s bad, and yet the country would look to a creature of Wall Street like Mike Bloomberg for salvation. Of course, it’s equally twisted that the tea parties exploded in response to the bank bailouts, and yet Bain Capital billionaire Mitt Romney is their favorite for 2012. Maybe that gave them hope.
But it didn’t work out so well yesterday. The millions that Wall Street pumped into Saujani’s campaign at the behest of Team Bloomberg cast her irrevocably as a tool of Wall Street in the eyes of voters who have had quite enough from the financial oligarchy. She wound up with only a pathetic 19% of the vote.
Michael Bloomberg and his proxies couldn’t even orchestrate a serious challenge to a congressional seat in a year of unprecedented dissatisfaction with incumbents. If 19% doesn’t qualify as a public rebuke of their organizing abilities, I don’t know what does.
Sep 15 2010
(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Did the Tea Party just throw the Democrats a bone that will allow them to hold on to their majority in the Senate and narrow their losses in the House?
The victory last night of Tea Party candidate, Christine O’Donnell to challenge Democrat Chis Coons for the last 4 years of Vice President Joe Biden’s Senate seat along with some far right candidates for the House that even devoted Republicans are reluctant to vote for just may have saved the Democrats from demise.
The big news last night was O’Donnell’s win over Republican Party stalwart, Mike Castle who has never known defeat. It has left Republican voters disgusted and shifted the odds of Coons winning which will help maintain the status quo. With Castle’s silence on supporting O’Donnell and the The NRSC, the Republican campaign arm in the Senate, not about to toss her any campaign money, the Coons chances rose. According to Public Polling Policy Poll, Castle primary voters support Coons over O’Donnell 44-28 in general election. Ouch!
The Alaskan and New Hampshire Senate seats will most likely stay on the Republican side of the isle. Even though in NH the Democratic candidate, Rep. Paul Hodes, is very popular, it is still an up hill battle. Democrats may be able to hold onto the Florida, Nevada and California seats. Forget Arkansas, the President and his crew screwed that pooch backing the un-reelectable Blanche Lincoln in her primary against progressive, popular, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. If the Democrats can take control of the message that “It’s the Economy, Stupid” and it was Republican policies that put it in the toilet just as it did under Reaganomics, they just might be able to cut their losses and hold the Senate.
h/t to David Dayen @ FDL, Nate Silver @ NYT and Chris Cillizza @ The Washington Post.
Up Date: From Jake Tapper at ABC News:
Speaking more broadly about yesterday’s primary results, including O’Donnell’s victory, (WH Press Secretary, Robert) Gibbs said the “practical implications” of “intra-party Republican anger has changed the complexion of a number of races at a state and a district level. And that has real-world practical implications for the outcome of what happens in November. Again, last night, I think — I think is a pretty good example, both in a congressional race and in a Senate race in Delaware, that makes winning those races for the Republicans a fundamentally harder task.”
Asked if the conservative voter anger would now turn against establishment Democrats, Gibbs said he remains “confident.. that on election night we’ll retain control of both the House and the Senate.”
Up Date #2: This isn’t good:
New Reuters/Ipsos FL poll: Rubio 40, Crist 26, Meek 21
From the Political Wire:
When voters were asked their choice between Rubio and Crist if Meek was not in the race, the contest is essentially tied — Rubio 46% and Crist 45%.
I stand corrected. FL will most likely go to the Republicans.
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