Sep 02 2010

On This Day in History: September 2

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

September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 120 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1969, America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) makes its public debut, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. ATMs went on to revolutionize the banking industry, eliminating the need to visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions. By the 1980s, these money machines had become widely popular and handled many of the functions previously performed by human tellers, such as check deposits and money transfers between accounts. Today, ATMs are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail.

Several inventors worked on early versions of a cash-dispensing machine, but Don Wetzel, an executive at Docutel, a Dallas company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment, is generally credited as coming up with the idea for the modern ATM. Wetzel reportedly conceived of the concept while waiting on line at a bank. The ATM that debuted in New York in 1969 was only able to give out cash, but in 1971, an ATM that could handle multiple functions, including providing customers’ account balances, was introduced.

ATMs eventually expanded beyond the confines of banks and today can be found everywhere from gas stations to convenience stores to cruise ships. There is even an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Non-banks lease the machines (so-called “off premise” ATMs) or own them outright.

 44 BC – Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.

44 BC – The first of Cicero’s Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the next several months.

31 BC – Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium – off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

1649 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.

1666 – The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including St Paul’s Cathedral.

1752 – Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.

1789 – The United States Department of the Treasury is founded.

1792 – During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic Church bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.

1807 – The Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.

1833 – Oberlin College is founded by John Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.

1856 – Tianjing Incident in Nanjing, China.

1859 – A solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service.

1862 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope’s disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.

1864 – American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta, Georgia a day after the Confederate defenders flee the city.

1867 – Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijo. The Empress consort is thereafter known as Lady Haruko. Since her death in 1914, she is called by the posthumous name Empress Shoken.

1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan – Prussian forces take Napoleon III of France and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner.

1885 – Rock Springs massacre: In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who are struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers, killing 28, wounding 15, and forcing several hundred more out of town.

1898 – Battle of Omdurman – British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan.

1901 – Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick” at the Minnesota State Fair.

1925 – The U.S. Zeppelin the USS Shenandoah crashes, killing 14.

1935 – Labor Day Hurricane of 1935: a large hurricane hits the Florida Keys killing 423.

1939 – World War II: Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.

1945 – World War II: Combat ends in the Pacific Theater: the Instrument of Surrender of Japan is signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and accepted aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

1945 – Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1946 – Interim Government of India is formed with Jawaharlal Nehru as Vice President.

1957 – President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.

1958 – United States Air Force C-130A-II is shot down by fighters over Yerevan, Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.

1960 – The first election of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, in history of Tibet. The Tibetan community observes this date as the Democracy Day.

1963 – CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television’s first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.

1967 – The Principality of Sealand is established, ruled by Prince Paddy Roy Bates.

1970 – NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.

1990 – Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.

1991 – The United States recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.



1996 – A peace agreement is signed between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front in Malacanang Palace.

1998 – Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed.

1998 – The UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.

Sep 02 2010

Morning Shinbun Thursday September 2




Thursday’s Headlines:

Earl’s gusts grow to 140 mph, aims at East

Stephen Hawking says universe not created by God

USA

As U.S. deaths in Afghanistan rise, military families grow critical

Tesco’s US operation accused of bullying staff

Europe

Will Russia’s Bloggers Survive Censorship Push?

Focus on Holocaust led to suspension, says Jewish teacher

Middle East

Obama’s high-stakes gamble on peace deal that eluded predecessors

The trickiest issue in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Asia

Throw these infidels in jail

Mourners targeted in Lahore

Africa

Unions reject govt’s revised wage offer

Deadly riots in Mozambique over rising prices

Latin America

Felipe Calderon marks four years of reform efforts stymied by Mexico drug war

Earl’s gusts grow to 140 mph, aims at East

Obama declares emergency in N. Carolina; 30,000 flee Hatteras Island

NBC, msnbc and news services  

HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C. – Hurricane Earl gusted stronger Wednesday night as it steamed toward the Eastern Seaboard.

Communities from North Carolina to New England kept a close eye on the storm packing 140 mph winds and worried that even a slight shift in the Category 4 storm’s predicted offshore track could put millions of people in the most densely populated part of the country in harm’s way.

President Barack Obama declared late Wednesday that an emergency exists in North Carolina and ordered federal agencies to help state and local officials with handling any problems caused by Hurricane Earl.

Stephen Hawking says universe not created by God

• Physics, not creator, made Big Bang, new book claims

• Professor had previously referred to ‘mind of God’

Adam Gabbatt

The Guardian, Thursday 2 September 2010

God did not create the universe, the man who is arguably Britain’s most famous living scientist says in a forthcoming book.

In the new work, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity.

In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking had seemed to accept the role of God in the creation of the universe. But in the new text, co-written with American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, he said new theories showed a creator is “not necessary”.

USA

As U.S. deaths in Afghanistan rise, military families grow critical

Some families of service members killed in the war say the rules of engagement protect Afghan civilians at the expense of American troops. U.S. combat tolls have peaked this summer.

By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

September 2, 2010

Reporting from Queensbury, N.Y. – Bill and Beverly Osborn still can’t bring themselves to erase the phone message from their son Ben. He had called from Afghanistan in June to assure them that he was safe. Four days later, he was killed in a Taliban ambush.

The Osborns long ago accepted the risks faced by their son, an Army specialist. But what they can’t accept now are the military rules of engagement, which they contend made it possible for the Taliban to kill him.

Tesco’s US operation accused of bullying staff

European multinationals are exploiting America’s weak labour laws to suppress unions, claims report by Human Rights Watch

By Stephen Foley in New York Thursday, 2 September 2010

European companies, including the UK retail giant Tesco, are facing criticism from a leading human rights organisation for allegedly exploiting weak labour laws in the US and bullying employees to prevent them from joining unions.

Human Rights Watch says European multinationals talk nicely about labour relations at home, but pay scant regard to them overseas. In a report published this morning, the New York-based campaign group says that managers at Tesco’s new mini-market chain in the US, Fresh & Easy, have created an anti-union atmosphere, and that employees who want to organise union activities live in fear for their jobs. Another UK company, the security firm Group 4 Securicor (G4S), fired an employee for trying to persuade colleagues to join a union.

Europe

Will Russia’s Bloggers Survive Censorship Push?

With so many of their media sources controlled by the state or government-friendly oligarchs, Russians have turned to their bloggers to keep informed and give voice to their grievances and concerns. But many of those in power are now seeking to impose rigid limits on online freedom.

By Benjamin Bidder and Matthias Schep

One sunny June day in California, Rustem Adagamov was rushing without his glasses on when he literally ran into Russia’s president. “I simply didn’t see Dmitry Medvedev,” Russia’s most influential blogger says, “and I bumped right into him.”

Adagamov, 48, uses his blog to report on a range of grievances, including the arrests of opposition members and “unparalleled police brutality.” Each day, his blog gets around 600,000 page views, making it more widely read than many of Moscow’s daily newspapers. Adagamov has even made fun of Medvedev on his blog by posting photographs of cups bearing the portraits of Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the caption “They all lie anyway” printed in bold.

Focus on Holocaust led to suspension, says Jewish teacher

 

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris The Irish Times – Thursday, September 2, 2010

A JEWISH French history teacher has said she was suspended for spending too much time teaching her pupils about the Holocaust and organising trips to Nazi death camps.

Catherine Pederzoli (58), from the eastern city of Nancy, said she had been suspended for four months by the department of education for what it claimed were breaches of her obligation to be “neutral and secular” in the classroom

Middle East

Obama’s high-stakes gamble on peace deal that eluded predecessors  

He has invested much in succeeding where others have failed, but doing so could fatally harm his re-election bid

By Rupert Cornwell Thursday, 2 September 2010

Now it’s his turn. After the elder George Bush, Bill Clinton and George Bush the younger, Barack Obama has became the fourth consecutive American president to seek international diplomacy’s hitherto impossible prize: Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The roll-call of place names associated with such efforts since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991 is long: Madrid, Oslo, Wye, Sharm el-Sheikh, Camp David, Taba and most recently Annapolis. One thing, though, they have in common: failure. And so to Washington, September 2010.

The trickiest issue in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

As Israeli-Palestinian peace talks get under way in Washington, the largely Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem shows the intensifying battle for control of the city.

By Christa Case Bryant, Staff writer / September 1, 2010  

Jerusalem

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas enter direct peace talks on Thursday, an intensifying battle for Jerusalem has rendered the conflict’s trickiest issue even more intractable.

A key flashpoint in this battle is Sheikh Jarrah, a predominantly Arab neighborhood revered by religious Jews. While the number of new Jewish residents remains small, Palestinians and human rights activists see their expanding presence as fulfilling a larger plan.

Overall, some 2,000 Jewish residents have moved into strategic locations in every Palestinian neighborhood around the Old City, home to key holy sites.

Asia

Throw these infidels in jail

LIFE IN TALIBANISTAN, Part 1  

By Pepe Escobar  

Dear reader: let’s sit back, relax, and take a trip down memory lane to prehistoric times – the pre-9/11, pre-YouTube, pre-Facebook world.

Ten years ago, Taliban Afghanistan – Talibanistan – was under a social, cultural, political and economic nightmare. Arguably, not much has changed. Or has it?

Ten years ago, New York-based photographer Jason Florio and myself slowly crossed Talibanistan overland from east to west, from the Pakistani border at Landi Kotal to the Iranian border at Islam Qillah. As Afghan aid workers acknowledged, we were the first Westerners to pull this off in quite a while.

Mourners targeted in Lahore



By: Jam Sajjad Hussain | Published: September 02, 201  

LAHORE – At least 35 people were martyred and 254 others injured on Wednesday evening as two suicide bombers exploded themselves minutes after a cracker blast at a mourning procession held in connection with death anniversary of Hazrat Ali (AS) near Karbala Gamay Shah and Bhati Gate. Soon after the incident, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Almi claimed the responsibility of carrying out the blasts.

On the other hand, Muslim Sunni Ittehad, Jafferia Alliance and the business community have announced three-day mourning across the country to protest against the heinous act.

Africa

Unions reject govt’s revised wage offer

The public-sector strike is set to continue after South Africa’s main labour federation late on Wednesday rejected a revised government wage offer.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Sep 02 2010

“We got a report from unions and the overwhelming majority of provincial structures have rejected the government’s offer, the strike continues,” Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said.

However, the Independent Labour Caucus (ILC), one of the labour umbrellas representing about 1,3-million workers, was still divided on the offer.

Chris Klopper, chairperson of the ILC, said his organisation was “still in the process of collecting feedback from its members on the government’s wage offer”.

Deadly riots in Mozambique over rising prices

Six people, including two children, are reported to have been killed during riots in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, over rising food and fuel prices.

The BBC

But police spokesman Pedro Cossa told the AFP news agency only four people had died, and denied police had fired live rounds at the demonstrators after they blocked roads and threw stones.

The country’s Interior Minister, Jose Pacheco, has appealed for calm.

The authorities had earlier warned that demonstrations would not be tolerated.

The violence was the worst in the impoverished African state since 2008.

‘Outlaws’

Mozambique’s private S-TV television station and Portugal’s Lusa news agency said six people had been killed in Wednesday’s riots across the capital and the suburbs.

Latin America

Felipe Calderón marks four years of reform efforts stymied by Mexico drug war

The tenure of President Felipe Calderón, who is preparing to give his fourth state of the union address, has been marked by the brutal Mexico drug war and political infighting that’s stymied reform.

By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer / September 1, 2010

Mexico City

Mexican President Felipe Calderón kicked off his presidency in December 2006 with an ambitious reform package. The can-do technocrat was going to tackle Mexico’s entrenched corruption, disband its behemoth quasi-monopolies, and – most important – take the fight to Mexico’s burgeoning drug cartels.

But in the fourth year of his six-year term, marked by handing his state of the union address to Congress today, it’s become clear that the country’s brutal drug war has sapped his administration’s energy and that political infighting has squelched his reform agenda. Mr. Calderón will formally deliver his speech Thursday morning in a ceremony.

Ignoring Asia A Blog

Sep 02 2010

There is a Lot of Stupid Out There

(10 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

with a lot of denial on the side.

h/t digby

Sep 02 2010

The Permanent U.S. Bases in the Iraq the U.S. Is Supposedly Leaving

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Hat tip to David Swanson at WarIsACrime.org.

“New markets for our goods stretch from Asia to the Americas”

“…we have not done what is necessary to shore up the foundation of our own prosperity. We have spent over a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits. For too long, we have put off tough decisions on everything from our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform. As a result, too many middle class families find themselves working harder for less, while our nation’s long-term competitiveness is put at risk.”

— Barack Obama, Oval Office Address on Iraq, August 31, 2010

Sep 02 2010

Prime Time

Well, I’m trying a new TV Listing service tonight, Zap2It.  For some odd reason it turns up fine under XP Google and hardly at all under the customized Ubuntu default Google.

Country music.  Despise it and only listen to be polite when I have to.  Tonight is not one of those times.

Well, one thing it doesn’t do is improve the choices.

Later-

Dave hosts Donald Trump, Michelle Beadle, and Jukebox the Ghost.  Alton does more casserole, this time Green Bean.  Self-Medication.

Sep 02 2010

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 40 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 US deaths in Afghanistan hit record in 2010

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

Wed Sep 1, 12:18 pm ET

KABUL (AFP) – The toll of US soldiers killed in the Afghan war this year is the highest since the conflict began, an AFP count found, as NATO said Wednesday it had killed two insurgents for every soldier lost last month.

Military leaders say the spike in deaths reflects the deployment of additional troops into the Afghan theatre, which leads to a higher number of battlefield engagements with Taliban-led insurgents.

A total of 324 US soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war 2010, compared with 317 for all of 2009, according to AFP figures based on the independent icasualties.org website.

2 Suicide blasts in Lahore kill 25, injure 180

by Waqar Hussain, AFP

1 hr 33 mins ago

LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) – Three suicide bombers targeted a Shiite mourning procession in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 180, police and rescue officials said.

It was the first major attack in Pakistan since devastating floods engulfed a fifth of the volatile country over the past month in its worst ever disaster.

The string of blasts ripped through the crowd of thousands at the moment of the breaking of fast in the ongoing holy month of Ramadan, and led to an outpouring of fury as mourners tried to torch a nearby police station.

3 Biden launches new US mission in Iraq

by Arthur MacMillan, AFP

1 hr 45 mins ago

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq (AFP) – Vice President Joe Biden launched a new American military mission in Iraq on Wednesday, opening up a fresh phase in a seven-year deployment that has cost the lives of more than 4,400 US troops.

Addressing soldiers near Baghdad a day after the US combat role officially ended, Biden sought to rally the nearly 50,000 American troops who will remain in the country until a total withdrawal at the end of 2011.

The vice president acknowledged that the 2003 invasion had split US public opinion but he called for unity around the new training and advisory mission and said he believed the Iraq conflict’s “darkest days are now behind us.”

4 US private employment slips first time in seven months

by P. Parameswaran, AFP

Wed Sep 1, 12:33 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US private sector employment unexpectedly dropped in August for the first time in seven months, signaling a weakening economic recovery, payrolls firm ADP said Wednesday.

Some 10,000 private-sector jobs were lost last month following a revised July increase of 37,000 jobs, ADP said in a report.

The data surprised most economists, who had expected 13,000 jobs to be created in the private sector, a critical cushion easing the country’s high jobless rate.

5 Obama declares an end to Iraq combat mission

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Tue Aug 31, 7:00 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama Tuesday formally declared an end to America’s seven-year combat mission in Iraq, saying it was time to turn the page on a war which has cost thousands of Iraqi and US lives.

“Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended,” Obama said in excerpts of his speech released by the White House ahead of his Oval Office address to the nation at 8:00pm (0000 GMT).

“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” the US commander-in-chief added, drawing a close to the mission launched with the 2003 US-led invasion.

6 Divided Fed warns on ‘sluggish’ recovery

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

Tue Aug 31, 5:34 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve expressed worry about a “sluggish” economic recovery Tuesday, according to minutes of an August meeting that highlighted divisions within the bank’s top rate-setting panel.

Although members of the Federal Open Market Committee expected the recovery to pick up pace in 2011, details from the August 10 gathering showed concern about a return to modest crisis-era measures to stimulate growth.

Faced with tepid news from the employment and housing sectors and evidence that the recession had been deeper than previously thought, members of the Fed’s rate-setting panel warned the short-term outlook remained bleak.

7 Climate: Risks loom for China: study

AFP

Wed Sep 1, 1:06 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – Climate change could reduce key harvests in China by a fifth if the gloomiest scenarios prove true, according to a study on Wednesday.

Publishing in the journal Nature, a team of Chinese scientists say China’s climate “has clearly warmed” over the past half century, gaining 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1960.

The hotspots were northeastern China with a warming trend of 0.36 C (0.65 F) per decade, and Inner Mongolia, with a warming of 0.4 C (0.7 F) per decade.

8 Sweden to reopen rape probe of WikiLeaks founder

by Rita Devlin Marier, AFP

Wed Sep 1, 11:57 am ET

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – A top Swedish prosecutor said Wednesday she would reopen a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, overturning a previous ruling to quash a probe of the Australian.

“There is reason to believe that a crime has been committed. Considering information available at present, my judgement is that the classification of the crime is rape,” director of prosecutions Marianne Ny said in a statement.

“The basis for further considerations is not sufficient at the moment. More investigations are necessary before a final decision can be made” concerning possible charges, she added.

9 Blair memoir lifts lid on Iraq, alcohol and royals

by Katherine Haddon, AFP

Wed Sep 1, 11:45 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – Tony Blair does not regret the Iraq war despite the “nightmare” it unleashed, but he feels “desperately sorry” for those who died, the former British prime minister says in memoirs published on Wednesday.

“A Journey”, Blair’s account of his decade in Downing Street, also includes an unprecedented attack on his “strange” successor Gordon Brown, whose premiership he branded a disaster.

It details the personal toll the job took on him, including his use of whisky, gin and wine as a “prop”, as well as his role in the aftermath of princess Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

10 Pakistan stars depart for betting scam probe

by Julian Guyer, AFP

Wed Sep 1, 9:23 am ET

TAUNTON (AFP) – Three Pakistan players embroiled in betting scam allegations headed to London on Wednesday to face questioning which is almost certain to sideline them from the team’s tour of England.

Test captain Salman Butt plus bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif look set to miss Pakistan’s match with county side Somerset in Taunton Thursday, a warm-up match before their limited overs internationals against England.

The trio, all casually dressed, left the team hotel in Taunton at 11:12am (1012 GMT) accompanied by team security officer Major Khawaja Najam, flanked by private security guards and police officers.

11 Blasts kill 20 in Pakistan’s Lahore, 170 hurt

By Mubasher Bukhari, Reuters

Wed Sep 1, 1:36 pm ET

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Three bombs exploded at a Shi’ite procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding over 170, piling pressure on a government already overwhelmed by floods.

Police said two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd, after a lull in violence during the floods, the type of attack that Pakistani Taliban militants have claimed in the past.

Sajjad Bhutta, a senior Lahore official, told Reuters the death toll had climbed to 20, with at least 170 wounded. Rescue services said 25 were killed.

12 Tea Party promises to be a force in November

By John Whitesides, Reuters

1 hr 53 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With another win in a Senate Republican primary, this time in Alaska, the conservative Tea Party movement showed it is more than a political fad and has the staying power to be a significant force in November’s elections.

Polls show Tea Party favorites leading or running nearly even with Democratic foes in a handful of high-profile Senate races that could shift the balance of power in Congress — or at least inject a potent new strain of anti-spending, anti-big government conservatism into the staid Senate.

Republican Joe Miller’s win over Senator Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska primary was the movement’s latest success. Murkowski conceded the race on Tuesday, becoming the seventh incumbent to lose a congressional primary this year and the most recent Republican to fall under a wave of anti-establishment anger.

13 Blasts kill up to eight in Pakistan’s Lahore, 100 hurt

By Mubasher Bukhari, Reuters

Wed Sep 1, 11:39 am ET

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – At least two bombs exploded at a Shi’ite procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing up to eight people and wounding 100, piling pressure on a government already overwhelmed by floods.

Witnesses said a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of hundreds, after a lull in violence during the floods, the type of attack that Pakistani Taliban militants have claimed in the past.

A Lahore local government official said up to eight people were killed in the explosions which came within 15 minutes of each other. There were reports of a third blast.

14 Is the tea party becoming the new Grand Old Party?

By LIZ “Sprinkles” SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer

20 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Is the tea party the new Republican Party? The grass-roots network of fed-up conservative-libertarian displayed its power in its biggest triumph of the election year: the toppling of Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska’s GOP primary. Political novice Joe Miller is the fifth tea party insurgent to win a GOP Senate nominating contest, an upset that few, if any, saw coming.

With the stunning outcome, the fledgling tea party coalition and voters who identify with its anti-tax, anti-spending sentiments proved that democracy is alive and well – within the Republican Party. Don’t like who is representing you? Rise up, fire them and choose someone new.

The tea party has taken hold in the Grand Old Party, unseating lawmakers, capturing nominations for open seats and forcing Republicans to recalibrate both their campaign strategy and issues agenda. Out is talk of delivering federal dollars back home; in is talk of fiscal discipline.

15 Number of illegal immigrants in US now declining

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer

8 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in two decades – decreasing by 8 percent since 2007, a new study finds. The reasons range from the sour economy to Mexican violence and increased U.S. enforcement that has made it harder to sneak across the border.

Much of the decline comes from a sharp drop-off in illegal immigrants from the Caribbean, Central America and South America attempting to cross the southern border of the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center, which based its report on an analysis of 2009 census data.

The findings come amid bitter debate over Arizona’s strict new immigration law, which was passed earlier this year but is on hold for now as it is challenged in federal court. The Obama administration contends the state law usurps federal authority and promotes racial profiling, while Arizona leaders say states are justified to step in if federal enforcement falls substantially short.

16 US moves into final military phase in Iraq

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press Writer

23 mins ago

BAGHDAD – The U.S. on Wednesday moved into the final phase of its military involvement in Iraq, with administration officials saying the war was ending even as the new commander of the remaining 50,000 troops warned of the ongoing threat from “hostile elements.”

The transfer of authority came a day after President Barack Obama announced the shift from combat operations to preparing Iraqi forces to assume responsibility for their own security. Obama made clear in Tuesday’s speech that this was no victory celebration.

A six-month stalemate over forming a new Iraqi government has raised concerns about the country’s stability and questions over whether the leadership can cope with a diminished but still dangerous insurgency.

17 New test seen as big advance in diagnosing TB

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

26 mins ago

Scientists are reporting a major advance in diagnosing tuberculosis: A new test can reveal in less than two hours, with very high accuracy, whether someone has the disease and if it’s resistant to the main drug for treating it.

The test could revolutionize TB care and replace the 125-year-old process used now, which is slow and misses more than half of all cases, experts say. A better test would be a powerful tool to curb TB in poor countries, where most people spread the lung disease before they are diagnosed and treated, and many don’t return for follow-up doctor visits to get test results.

In the United States, it could be a big help in inner city clinics, where diagnosing a drug-resistant strain on someone’s first visit enables proper treatment right away.

18 Official: 3 bombs kill 25 at Pakistan Shiite march

By BABAR DOGAR, Associated Press Writer

25 mins ago

LAHORE, Pakistan – Three bombs ripped through a Shiite Muslim religious procession in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing 25 people and wounding about 150 others, officials said.

The explosions appeared to be the latest in a string of attacks by Sunni extremists against the minority Shiites they consider infidels. Allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban, the bombers are also seeking to destabilize Pakistan’s U.S.-backed government.

The blasts were the first major attacks since Pakistan was hit by devastating floods more than a month ago. Lahore, the country’s political capital and home to much of its military elite, has been regularly targeted by militants over the past two years.

19 Apple unveils new box for streaming movies, TV

By JORDAN ROBERTSON and JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writers

2 hrs 56 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Inc. announced a smaller, cheaper version of its Apple TV device for streaming movies and television shows over the Internet and into the living room. It also unveiled a new line of iPods, including a touch-screen Nano model.

The tiny new Apple TV system announced Wednesday will only let people rent, not buy, content. For first-run high-definition movies the day they come out on DVD, people will have to pay $4.99. High-definition TV show rentals will be 99 cents.

The price of the box is also being cut to $99, from $229. Cheaper options for streaming video had been available, including Roku’s set-top boxes that start at $60.

20 New York imam: Mosque fight about Muslim role

By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer

Wed Sep 1, 11:10 am ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The imam leading plans for an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York said the fight is over more than “a piece of real estate” and could shape the future of Muslim relations in America.

The dispute “has expanded beyond a piece of real estate and expanded to Islam in America and what it means for America,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told a group Tuesday that included professors and policy researchers in Dubai.

Rauf suggested that the fierce challenges to the planned mosque and community center in lower Manhattan could leave many Muslim questioning their place in American political and civic life.

21 Weak auto sales for August amid economic worries

By DEE-ANN DURBIN and TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writers

37 mins ago

DETROIT – Americans nervous about the drumbeat of bad economic news stayed away from auto showrooms. Automakers nervous about their bottom lines didn’t offer deals to lure them in.

As a result, it was the worst August for U.S. auto sales since 1983, when the country was at the end of a double-dip recession. General Motors, Toyota, Honda and Ford all reported declines from the month before and from a year earlier.

The bleak results were a reminder that, for all the good news about the turnaround of the Detroit automakers, the market for cars and trucks in the United States remains frail. Initial data showed sales came in at about 997,000, down 5 percent from July, according to AutoData Corp.

22 Sen. Murkowski’s defeat marks major tea party win

By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer

Wed Sep 1, 1:12 pm ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Backed by the Tea Party Express and Sarah Palin, a little-known conservative lawyer from Alaska became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010.

In arguably the biggest political upset of the year, Joe Miller claimed the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate when incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded Tuesday evening. Murkowski gave up after failing to gain much ground in an count of outstanding absentee ballots.

Miller will be the favorite in November in strongly Republican Alaska against Democrat Scott McAdams, the mayor of Sitka.

23 Obama: US combat in Iraq over, ‘time to turn page’

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

Wed Sep 1, 7:34 am ET

WASHINGTON – Claiming no victory, President Barack Obama formally ended the U.S. combat role in Iraq after seven long years of bloodshed, declaring firmly Tuesday night: “It’s time to turn the page.” Now, he said, the nation’s most urgent priority is fixing its own sickly economy.

From the Oval Office, where George W. Bush first announced the invasion that would come to define his presidency, Obama addressed millions who were divided over the war in his country and around the world. Fiercely opposed to the war from the start, he said the United States “has paid a huge price” to give Iraqis the chance to shape their future – a cost that now includes more than 4,400 troops dead, tens of thousands more wounded and hundreds of billions of dollars spent.

In a telling sign of the domestic troubles weighing on the United States and his own presidency, Obama turned much of the emphasis in a major war address to the dire state of U.S. joblessness. He said the Iraq war had stripped America of money needed for its own prosperity, and he called for an economic commitment at home to rival the grit and purpose of a military campaign.

24 Ex-Lehman CEO says regulators refused to save firm

By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer

1 hr 49 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The former chief of Lehman Brothers told a panel investigating the financial crisis that the Wall Street firm could have been rescued, but regulators’ refused to help – even though they later bailed out other big banks.

Richard S. Fuld Jr. told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission at a hearing that Lehman did everything it could to limit its risks and save itself in the fall of 2008.

“Lehman’s demise was caused by uncontrollable market forces, and the incorrect perception and accompanying rumors that Lehman did not have sufficient capital to support its investments,” Fuld testified.

25 Rape probe against WikiLeaks founder reopened

By MALIN RISING, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 10 mins ago

STOCKHOLM – A senior Swedish prosecutor reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday, the latest twist to a puzzling case in which prosecutors of different ranks have overruled each other.

Assange has denied the allegations and suggested they are part of a smear campaign by opponents of WikiLeaks – an online whistle-blower that has angered Washington by publishing thousands of leaked documents about U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The case was dismissed last week by Eva Finne, chief prosecutor in Stockholm, who overruled a lower-ranked prosecutor and said there was no reason to suspect that Assange, an Australian citizen, had raped a Swedish woman who had reported him to police.

26 Gates says history will judge worth of Iraq war

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

Wed Sep 1, 10:26 am ET

RAMADI, Iraq – Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that history will judge whether the war in Iraq was worth it.

In Iraq to mark the formal close of the U.S. combat mission and the departure of the top U.S. war commander, Gates visited troops at Camp Ramadi in western Iraq.

Asked whether the U.S. was still at war in Iraq, Gates answered succinctly, “I would say we are not.”

27 Mormon church, Jewish leaders tackle proxy baptism

By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writer

29 mins ago

SALT LAKE CITY – The Mormon church says it has changed its genealogical database to better prevent the names of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps from being submitted for posthumous baptism by proxy.

In a joint statement issued Wednesday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a coalition of Jewish leaders said a new computer system and policy changes related to the practice should resolve a yearslong disagreement over the baptisms.

Mormons believe posthumous baptism by proxy provides an opportunity for deceased persons to receive the Gospel in the afterlife. Baptisms are performed in Mormon temples with members immersing themselves in a baptismal pool as proxies for others. The names used in the ceremonies are drawn from a church-run genealogical database.

But, but, but… this makes perfect sense.  You know Lehi, the Nephi, and the Jaredites.  They were all Jews.

28 French railway faces criticism in US for WWII role

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ, Associated Press Writer

46 mins ago

ORLANDO, Fla. – The French national railway’s hope to bid on the first high-speed tracks in the United States is running into resistance from Holocaust survivors because of the company’s role in transporting Jews to Nazi death camps.

One of those leading the charge against the railway is Florida resident Rosette Goldstein, whose father was taken away by Nazi soldiers, shoved in a cattle train and delivered to his death during World War II. Goldstein plans to voice her opposition on behalf of many Holocaust survivors to the railway Thursday when the Florida Department of Transportation holds a public meeting in Orlando on the $2.6 billion high-speed rail project, which would connect Tampa and Orlando.

Goldstein and others – including legislators – want the railway, known as the SNCF, to formally apologize for its role in the war, give full access to its records and make reparations.

29 6 Ore. men settle Boy Scout sex abuse cases

By TIM FOUGHT, Associated Press Writer

58 mins ago

PORTLAND, Ore. – Six men who were sexually abused three decades ago by a leader of their Boy Scouts troop have settled lawsuits against the national organization dedicated to building character among youngsters.

The settlement followed a trial in which the Scouts were accused of failing to act for decades on a growing trove of documents alleging sexual abuse – known in the organization as “the perversion files.”

In April, an Oregon jury awarded the first of the six victims to go to trial nearly $20 million from the century-old, congressionally chartered organization.

30 Facebook page leads search for loved ones in Haiti

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 10 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The desperate quest to find loved ones started just minutes after the quake, as cell phones rang unanswered from beneath the rubble of Haiti’s best hotel.

A few hours later, the search went online with a Facebook page dedicated to the Hotel Montana, created by three siblings in Long Island looking for their missing uncle. Strangers immediately began to post the names and photographs of their relatives. By the next morning, the site had received more than 50 messages from frantic families.

As the days passed and the death toll climbed, the number of members on the page grew until it reached 17,427 people from around the world. They called themselves “the family.” They adopted a profile picture of a rock inscribed with the word “Hope.” And they vowed to stick together until every last member of their online tribe was brought home, alive or dead.

31 Ohio bear owner carried no insurance for caretaker

By JULIE CARR SMYTH, AP Statehouse Correspondent

1 hr 22 mins ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Records show the owner of a bear that recently mauled its caretaker to death had no workplace injury insurance to cover the man, an apparent violation of state law.

Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation spokeswoman Maria Smith said investigators will go to Sam Mazzola’s home near Cleveland on Thursday to determine if he had paid 24-year-old Brent Kandra or other employees since his coverage lapsed in late 2005.

Ohio requires business owners who pay even one employee to carry insurance in the event of injury or death, Smith said.

32 Ellis Island immigrants’ oral histories go online

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 23 mins ago

NEW YORK – Lawrence Meinwald’s voice starts shaking when he recalls the first time he saw the Statue of Liberty.

It was 1920, and the young Polish boy was on a ship with his family, headed to Ellis Island and a new life in America.

“It was a great sight. I didn’t know what it meant. But we stayed on deck, and everybody was anxious, and everybody was happy, and everybody was sad,” Meinwald said in an interview recorded years later recorded by the National Park Service.

33 Tales of surviving entrapment with sanity intact

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 28 mins ago

Randy Knapp was a teenager when he spent 13 nights trapped in a whiteout on Oregon’s Mount Hood. Thirty-three years later, he’s still climbing.

Jonathan Metz tried to saw off his arm this summer after it got stuck in his furnace and infection set in. Crouched alone for three days in his Connecticut basement, he’s about to return to his job as a finance manager for an insurance company.

Their stories of survival reveal a heartening truth for the 33 men trapped deep in a Chilean mine: While nobody walks away from catastrophe completely unscathed, neither do most survivors succumb in the aftermath to paralyzing despair, said George Bonanno, a psychology professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

34 Ohio restricting Puerto Rican birth certificates

By DOUG WHITEMAN, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 56 mins ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Elizabeth Torres was stung when her 19-year-old son said he’d been turned down for a state-issued Ohio identification card because his birth certificate from Puerto Rico was considered invalid.

“We’re not illegal aliens, we are citizens of this country,” Torres said. “We have everything, all the documents and all that, but we are not treated as such.”

People born in Puerto Rico are finding that older birth certificates from the U.S. territory are not being accepted when applying for a state ID or driver’s license at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a reaction to concerns about possible fraud that a national Hispanic group said smacks of racial discrimination.

35 Some states haven’t changed coke-crack disparity

By DENISE LAVOIE and BILL DRAPER, Associated Press Writers

Wed Sep 1, 3:05 pm ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Police found such a small amount of crack cocaine in James V. Taylor’s car that investigators described it as unweighable. It was enough for a 15-year prison sentence in Missouri, where the courts make an enormous distinction between crack and powder cocaine.

Missouri and several other states followed the federal government’s lead in creating such disparities decades ago, but now federal law has changed and prisoner advocates say it’s time for the states to do the same. Most drug cases are prosecuted at the state level.

Defense attorneys and other critics of the tougher crack sentences say they subject mostly blacks to long prison terms while those caught with powder cocaine – mostly whites – get far more lenient treatment. Some prosecutors defend the disparities, saying that because crack is smoked, it gets into the bloodstream faster than snorted cocaine, produces a more intense high and is generally considered more addictive.

36 Hyundai makes eye-catching family sedan

By ANN M. JOB, For The Associated Press

Wed Sep 1, 11:49 am ET

The 2011 Hyundai Sonata sedan is selling at a record pace, and why not? With styling that makes the new, sixth-generation Sonata look richer than its under-$20,000 base price, the Sonata is arguably the most stylish of America’s mainstream family sedans.

It has more trunk room and cubic-foot passenger volume than the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, and it’s fuel efficient, too. In fact, the 2011 Sonata has more horsepower – 198 generated from a direct-injection, four-cylinder engine – than the comparable four-cylinder-powered Camry, Accord, Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion sedans.

And none of the major Sonata competitors has Hyundai’s generous 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty and five-year/60,000-mile new vehicle warranty with unlimited-mileage roadside assistance.

37 Troops, families glad to hear end to Iraq combat

By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer

Wed Sep 1, 3:30 am ET

As President Obama spoke, Violeta Sifuentes snuggled with her 6-year-old twins on the suede sofa – Samuel beside her, Selena sprawled across her legs. When the 29-year-old Army captain explained what the president meant by combat operations in Iraq being over, “Nina” let out a loud, “Woo-hoo!” then asked, “Can we go play now?”

Sifuentes had heard essentially the same thing earlier Tuesday, when the commander in chief visited Fort Bliss, Texas. He had shaken her hand, hugged her, thanked her personally for her service.

But seeing it on TV brought tears to Sifuentes’ eyes.

38 Cash-strapped Calif. county approves hospital tax

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Associated Press Writer

Wed Sep 1, 12:20 am ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Voters in a rural California county in such dire financial condition that it’s seeking a state bailout approved a tax to fund their hospital Tuesday.

The vote gives Modoc County, in the state’s northeastern corner, a much-needed infusion of cash and likely means it will avoid bankruptcy.

Voters approved both measures – one to impose a $195-a-year parcel tax to keep their struggling hospital, and another to create a hospital district to oversee its operations. The tax required two-thirds voter approval.

39 Guam’s World War II survivors seek compensation

Associated Press

Tue Aug 31, 10:58 pm ET

HAGATNA, Guam – Regina Reyes, 95, remembers making corn titiyas, or flatbread, and selling it by the side of the road for 50 cents to survive during the Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II.

Her husband was taken away by the Japanese for labor and never returned. One day, a Japanese soldier came to her house in Agana Heights, armed with a gun and bayonet.

“He pushed me down and raped me,” said Reyes, who was seven months pregnant at the time.

40 Inmates say jailer used ‘enforcers’ at Mo. jail

By JIM SALTER, Associated Press Writer

Tue Aug 31, 6:02 pm ET

ST. LOUIS – An advocacy group demanded independent oversight of Missouri jails and prisons Tuesday after inmates claimed that a former chief jailer encouraged some inmates to attack others causing problems at his rural jail.

The allegations were echoed in court documents and a federal indictment against Washington County’s former chief deputy, Vernon G. Wilson, who has pleaded not guilty to civil rights violations and making false statements to the FBI.

Former inmate Gary Gieselman, who was arrested Sept. 29, 2005 for writing a bad check, told The Associated Press that he was attacked shortly after arriving at the jail in Potosi, about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. Gieselman said he had a “misunderstanding” with correctional officer Valeria Wilson Jackson, Wilson’s daughter, and was placed in a cell with five other men.

Sep 01 2010

Punting the Pundits

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

Ron Rosenbaum: Ban Drone-Porn War Crimes

Death by joystick is immoral and illegal

Are the masters of “drone porn” committing war crimes by remote control? It’s a bit shocking that more people aren’t asking this question. I have a feeling that many of us, particularly liberal Obama supporters (like myself, for instance), haven’t wanted to look too closely at what is being done in his name, in our name, when these remote-controlled and often tragically inaccurate weapons of small-group slaughter incinerate innocents from the sky, in what are essentially video-game massacres in which real people die.

.

Glenn Greenwald: Lost in a Muddle

Obama’s frustrating, unfocused speech on Iraq.

The predominant attribute of American elites is a refusal to take responsibility for any failures.  The favored tactic for accomplishing this evasion is the “nobody-could-have-known” excuse.  Each time something awful occurs — the 9/11 attack, the Iraq War, the financial crisis, the breaking of levees in New Orleans, the general ineptitude and lawlessness of the Bush administration — one is subjected to an endless stream of excuse-making from those responsible, insisting that there was no way they “could have known” what was to happen:  “I don’t think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile,” Condoleezza Rice infamously said on May 16, 2002, despite multiple FBI and intelligence documents warning of exactly that.  One finds identical excuses for each contemporary American disaster.  Robert Gibbs just invoked the same false excuse:  that “nobody” knew the depth of the financial and unemployment crisis early last year.

Peter Daou: Not a single mention of Iraqi civilian casualties in President Obama’s Iraq speech

George Bush and Dick Cheney invaded Iraq based on lies and deceptions. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives. Tonight, President Obama delivered a strong speech to mark the end of combat operations. One glaring omission: not a single mention of Iraqi civilian casualties. Only a line about sacrifices made by Iraqi fighters who fought alongside coalition troops.

Eugene Robinson: President Obama’s Oval Office speech was good, but the iconography was great.

In his address marking the effective end of the Iraq War, Obama used the setting well. The flags behind him, the family pictures on either side, the flag pin in his lapel, the red tie, white shirt and blue suit… it all projected patriotism and authority.

Richard Cohen: What was Obama’s Oval Office address about, exactly?

Excuse me, but what was President Obama’s Oval Office speech about?

Was it about Iraq, as we were led to expect, or was it about Afghanistan, as we were not led to expect? Was it about the economy, which the president mentioned, or education, which he also mentioned? Could it have been directed at Iraqis, whom the president praised in terms they would not have recognized, or was it about our troops, whom the president praised over and over again — a kind of rhetorical tick that suggested he had run out of things to say? As a speech, Obama delivered a version of the pudding once served Winton Churchill. “Pray, remove it,” he supposedly said. “It lacks theme.”

Timothy Lange: Turn the page on Mister Bush? Never

(However,) Unlike President Obama, I could and did and do doubt Bush’s support for the troops, love of country and commitment to our security. And I can wrest no mercy from the bitterness and rage that I feel every time I remember what he and the pack of thugs around him accomplished for the troops, the country and our security.

I cannot and will not turn the page until George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the others in that cabal of scorpions are brought to justice and make amends for Iraq. Which means never. No apology, much less time in the slam. I’ll go to my grave knowing Bush and the rest got away with it. In a couple of months, Bush hopes hundreds of thousands of Americans will be turning the pages of his memoir, a book certain to add to the plethora of lies and pathetic, murderous rationalizations with which we became so familiar during the last seven years of his presidency.

Sep 01 2010

On This Day in History: September 1

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

September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 121 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1897, the Boston subways opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America. It was the inspiration for this song by the Kingston Trio.



   

 462 – Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle.

1532 – Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marchioness of Pembroke by her fiance, King Henry VIII of England.

1644 – Battle of Tippermuir: Montrose defeats Elcho’s Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause.

1715 – King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years-the longest of any major European monarch.

1763 – Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy’s plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow

1772 – Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa founded in San Luis Obispo, California.

1804 – Juno, one of the largest main belt asteroids, is discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.

1836 – Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.

1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly – Confederate forces attack retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia.

1864 – American Civil War: Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuates Atlanta, Georgia after a four-month siege by General Sherman.

1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.

1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world’s first female telephone operator when she was recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.

1897 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

1902 – A Trip to the Moon, considered one of the first science fiction films, is released in France.

1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation

1906 – The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established.

1911 – The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship.

1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd.

1914 – The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.

1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.

1923 – The Great Kanto earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.

1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.

1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany invades Poland, beginning the war in Europe.

1939 – George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.

1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date.

1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization).

1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.

1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.

1964 – The Indian Oil Corporation forms after the merger of the Indian Oil Refineries and the Indian Oil Company.

1969 – A revolution in Libya brings Muammar al-Gaddafi to power, which is later transferred to the People’s Committees.

1969 – Tran Thien Khiem became Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyen Van Thieu.

1970 – Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attacked his motorcade.



1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky and becomes the world chess champion.

1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds.

1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.

1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.

1982 – Canada adopts the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as part of its Constitution.

1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.

1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.

1985 – A joint American-French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.

1990 – The Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist is founded, following a split from the Communist Labour Party of Turkey.

1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union

2004 – Beslan school hostage crisis commences when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage in Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia.

2006 – Luxembourg becomes the first country to complete the move to all digital television broadcasting.

Sep 01 2010

enthusiasm updated

part 1

Background

GOP Tea Party Takes 10-Point Lead in Generic Poll

Taylor Marsh, 30 August 2010 6:00 pm

The Point

Obama just doesn’t get it

Unemployment is a catastrophe, the recovery is stalling, but the president says his priority is “debt and deficits”

by Joan Walsh, Salon

Monday, Aug 30, 2010 14:50 ET

It’s been written before: The Obama team seems to think 2012 will take care of itself, as long as they burnish that shining Obama "brand," which requires reaching out to Republicans and independents and ignoring the pesky left, with its old culture-war grudges and its subversive demand for greater economic fairness. I’ve heard some smart folks speculate that the White House may even welcome a Republican takeover, the better to “let Obama be Obama,” and continue to play out his fantasy of being a Democratic Ronald Reagan, creating a generation of what he used to call “Obamacans” and realigning politics for his lifetime.

If anyone in the White House still believes that, they are delusional. If Republicans win back the House, they will tie up the president in subpoenas and bogus investigations faster than you can say Darrell Issa. The president hasn’t created “Obamacans”; instead he’s created a phenomenon best described as “Obamacan’t.” And still he cozies up to Republicans like Alan Simpson, who’s determined to slash Social Security and its “310,000,000 tits” (in how many ways was Simpson’s statement wrong? Probably close to 310 million). And the problem with Obama’s milquetoast approach to the economy isn’t just political: If Republicans get to reverse or obstruct the Democrats’ inadequate but promising steps forward on healthcare and financial reform, while slashing government spending and extending the disastrous Bush tax cuts, we may yet see an economic collapse to rival the Great Depression — the one that an earlier generation of brave and visionary Democrats vowed would never happen again.

It is too late for anything Obama says or does to materially improve the economy, or ease economic suffering, in time for November. In an e-mail today to Politico, Time’s Mark Halperin laid out the list of Democratic problems that he says could lead to the party losing up to 60 seats in the House (that’s still unlikely): “the enthusiasm gap, the state of the economy, the failure to materialize of a lot of what Democrats were counting on (health care law getting more popular, and ‘recovery summer’ taking hold).” The only thing on Halperin’s list Obama and the Democrats have any real control over now is that so-called enthusiasm gap, the fact that Democrats are much less excited about the November election than Republicans are. Trust me, watching the president continue to mouth Republican platitudes about “debts and deficits” and a recovery built on “private investment” is only going to increase that gap, not narrow it.

Great job.  You have my policy prescription.

(h/t Corrente)

Sep 01 2010

“It’s not that I’m an uncaring person”

Well it seems that someone has stuck their size 15s in it again for the second time in a week.

Apparently Veterans are now “lesser people” sucking at the public tit.

I’m certainly not the first blogger to notice this story (though I did cover it yesterday- #20), there’s digby and Teddy Partridge and Oliver Willis for example.

My take is a little different.  I’m not in favor of his firing or resignation.  His honest exposure of the endless greed of our ruling class, that they would STEAL the benefits of the troops they so hypocritically and incessantly praise as well as food out of the mouths of babies and the elderly so that the richest one tenth of one percent can get richer by looting our public treasury, says everything you need to know about the morality and values of our “professional political class”.

If I believed in Hell I’d hope you’d rot in it for eternity you heartless, soulless bastards.

It will be interesting to see how Obama, who just last night wasted 18 minutes I’ll never get back, and his mouthpiece Bobby Gibbs handle this.

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