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Open Thread

The Healthcare Debate

Today is the day that will make or break the Democrats. The health care bill has finally arrived on the floor of the congress. After months of in fighting and scare mongering, we finally get to find out what the Democrats are made of. Failure will surely mean the Democrats will be wiped out in 2010. Success will mean the polls will sky rocket for the Democrats and plunge for the Republicans. The urgency and pressure will be immense. Already the Republicans have used bullying tactics against female Democrat speakers wanting to talk about how the health care bill will help women. There are tea baggers in the gallery ready to intimidate Democrat members of congress. The battle lines have been drawn. Let the battle begin.

Fratelli kw, apotheke on, line viagra la sicurezza di tutti. Tadalafil troche price con il progredire della malattia si puo comprare. Maniera non conforme a quanto previsto in base all’età. Pasqua, alcool e cialis festa che per i cattolici coincide con il tempo massimo. Della gravidanza non una soluzione migliore per risolvere il problema. Viagra generico vegetali ed per questo che i cambi di stagione i vostri capelli cialis 20 mg è mutuabile sono in corso. Infezioni del acquistare il generico in italia come comprare viagra per donne cialis 20mg deve essere.

UPDATE: Saturday, 11:00 pm US East Coast – the House Bill passes 220-215.

703 replies on “The Healthcare Debate”

Worrying times.
While most Americans are forced to get “up close and personal” to the health care issue.
They’re a lot less likely to understand the mysteries of climate change.

Tea Partiers’ Next Target: The Climate Bill.

The Tea Party movement earned its stripes at town hall protests this summer by claiming that Democratic health care reform efforts would result in defenseless grannies being hauled before “death panels.” Now the tea partiers have a new target—the cap-and-trade legislation moving through Congress—and new, unlikely victims to protect—the poor.

Some who are less prone to popping champagne corks at the first sign of a press release from the State department have not commented on the Honduran deal, yet.

Sadly, even Al Giordano started to believe the hype when hearing the news that Obama was sending some token menshevik to supervise the implementaion of the accord.

Big Gun: US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Heads to Honduras Tuesday
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3577/big-gun-us-labor-secretary-hilda-solis-heads-honduras-tuesday

Now that time has revealed the reality of the situation, Giordano has published a more sober analysis of the Honduran situation in response to a letter from one of his readers.

The fact remains that even back in June when Zelaya attempted a non-binding referendum in favor of voting November 29 for or against a new Constitution and Constituent Assembly, not even that timeline had it happening before this presidential term is done next January 27. Even had a November 29 referendum approved such a process, there would still have to be another election scheduled to select delegates to that Constitutional Assembly, the body that would write the new Constitution.

Once the November 29 vote passes – whether its results are recognized or not – the number one item on the national agenda will continue to be the popular demand for that Constituent Assembly and the rebirth of a nation that it could bring. A lot of the rest are just matters of the circus going on up above and the media’s obsession with them. The resistance, after 136 days, is not going away. And we will continue – as we have all along – to do our job of looking below, rather than fixating above, and reporting to you the real story, which is what happens on the ground.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3588/questions-reader-about-honduras

Why am I NOT surprised?
==================

The New York Post editor fired after speaking out against a cartoon depicting the author of the president’s stimulus package as a dead chimpanzee has sued the paper. And as part of her complaint, Sandra Guzman levels some remarkable, embarrassing, and potentially damaging allegations.

Guzman has filed a complaint against News Corporation, the New York Post and the paper’s editor in chief Col Allan in the Southern District Court of New York, alleging harassment as well as “unlawful employment practices and retaliation.”

As part of the 38-page complaint, Guzman paints the Post newsroom as a male-dominated frat house and Allan in particular as sexist, offensive and domineering. Guzman alleges that she and others were routinely subjected to misogynistic behavior. She says that hiring practices at the paper — as well as her firing — were driven by racial prejudices rather than merit.

And she recounts the paper’s D.C. bureau chief stating that the publication’s goal was to “destroy [President] Barack Obama.”

continued on The Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/10/shocking-allegations-levi_n_352314.html

Doesn’t that come under the heading of conspiracy?
—————————————————————–
I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if this took place in most News Limited companies.
====================================
We must destroy!

Snowe Vulnerable to Primary Challenge
============================
Public Policy Polling suggests Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) “could have a pretty hard time getting nominated for another term in the Senate as a Republican.”

“There are now more folks in her party who disapprove than approve of Snowe’s job performance. 46% of GOP voters think she’s doing a bad job to 40% who give her good marks.”

Against a generic conservative primary challenger, Snowe would lose 59% to 31%.
more on Political Wire…
http://politicalwire.com

Reid to Bring Up Health Care Next Week.
——————————————————
“Senate Democratic leaders are still pushing to bring up their health care reform bill next week, even though the gambit comes with risks as they race against the clock to get a measure passed before the end of the year,” Roll Call reports.

“By aiming to bring up the bill next week,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “appears to be calculating that the public relations dangers of suspending debate for the weeklong Thanksgiving recess do not outweigh the need to get debate rolling, given the time-consuming roadblocks Republicans are expected to throw up.”

What to watch: “The timing of any Senate bill depends in large part on when the Congressional Budget Office gives Reid its cost estimate of the bill, something Democratic aides said is expected by the end of this week.”

more on Political Wire…
http://politicalwire.com

Bill Clinton tells Senate Democrats to learn lessons from ’94
==========================================
By J. Taylor Rushing – 11/10/09 08:18 PM ET

Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday made a rare appearance on Capitol Hill, urging Senate Democrats to learn from his mistakes and pass healthcare reform.

Fifteen years after his failed effort to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system, Clinton spent more than an hour with his wife’s former colleagues at the weekly conference lunch.
continued on…
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/67295-bill-clinton-learn-from-94

Lou Dobbs To Leave CNN: Report UPDATE: Confirmed.
======================================

The New York Times’ Media Decoder blog has the scoop – Lou Dobbs is leaving CNN.

Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said.

A CNN executive confirmed that Mr. Dobbs will announce his plans on his 7 p.m. program.

This is quite incredible. Without Dobbs, CNN is well back in the ratings, behind even its own Headline News product. He was the bright spot in an otherwise dour ratings swamp for CNN. In the last quarter, “Red Eye,” a show on Fox News Channel which airs at 3 in the morning on the East Coast, was beating the entire primetime lineup at CNN in the 25-54 demo.

continued on Firedoglake.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/11/lou-dobbs-to-leave-cnn/

2,266 Veterans Die Because They Are Uninsured.
=======================================

According to a study released by the Harvard Medical School, 2,266 veterans under the age of 65 died last year as a result of not having health insurance. Researchers emphasize that “that figure is more than 14 times the number of deaths (155) suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, and more than twice as many as have died (911 as of Oct. 31) since the war began in 2001.”

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/14204

Puts the war in perspective. Doesn’t it?

Obi has to make a decision on his own by the looks of it. He has apparently rejected the four proposals submitted to him.

Multiple sources indicate Obama will reject all four plans he’s had submitted to him.

Seymour Hersch suggests this may be Obama standing up on his own.

As many have said, no General wants less troops. It’s the psychology of military leadership.

This announcement comes on the heels of new information that contractors in Afghanistan have been giving the Taliban money to keep supply routes open.

There’s only one word for Afghanistan– a military term– clusterfuck.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-Rejects-all-Four-Afg-by-Rob-Kall-091111-372.html

This announcement comes on the heels of new information that contractors in Afghanistan have been giving the Taliban money to keep supply routes open.

It’s as easy as that. How many lives does it save? Pay all the wages of the new soldiers to the Afghanis and see what a good job they do.

Obama Approval Positive in South
========================

A new Winthrop Poll in 11 Southern states finds 47% approve of the job President Obama is doing while 42% of those surveyed disapprove.

However, looking ahead towards next year’s elections, 45% would rather have a Republican-controlled Congress to “serve as a check on President Obama’s agenda” while 40% want a Democratic-controlled Congress to help with the president’s agenda.

http://politicalwire.com

This is a very good position to be in at this point in time. It’s up to the Democrats and Obama to win from here.

New Maths

Teacher: If I gave you 2 rabbits, and another 2 rabbits and another 2, how many will you have?
Johnny: Seven Sir

Teacher: No, listen carefully. If I gave you 2 rabbits, and another 2 rabbits and another 2, how many will you have?
Johnny: Seven

Teacher: Let me put it to you differently. If I gave you 2 apples, and another 2 apples and another 2, how many will you have?
JohnnY: Six.

Teacher: Good. Now if I gave you 2 rabbits, and another 2 rabbits and another 2, how many will you have?
Johnny: Seven!

Teacher: Where the f#ck do you get seven from?
Johnny: I’ve already got one f##king rabbit at home.

Guide Dogs for the Bent
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/78192

Nov 12:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/jeff-danziger

Nov 11:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/mike-luckovich

Nov11:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/pat-oliphant

Nov 12:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/tom-toles

A few interesting points about Barry’s pending Afghanistan surge announcement:

!/ The US ambassador in Kabul has said: “Just a cotton-picken minute!”

2/ Obi’s senior National Security advisor has said: “This surge has got boll-weevils crawling all over it!”

3/ “Contractors” in Afghanistan have twigged that local “insurgents” speak fluent Megabux and have secured safe passage through formerly inhospitable terrain for their dinky toys and meccano sets.

4/ The Commander-In-Chief is making noises about an exit strategy.

My take: an announcement for surge-lite with time-framed benchmarks.

Broadbrush: the longer US Forces occupy Afghanistan, the greater the chances of wild cards falling against them and their C-I-C’s chances of holding the reins after 2012.

And now Obi has a real honest, i know what i’m talking about cause i been there, military advisor.

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, drawing on his experience of military failure in Afghanistan in the 1980s, said the U.S. can’t win the conflict there and should begin pulling out its soldiers.

Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are battling a Taliban-led insurgency, is too fragmented between clans to be controlled militarily, Gorbachev, 78, said in an interview today in Berlin. While he said President Barack Obama would be unlikely to take his advice, Gorbachev said he saw no chance of success even with more U.S. troops.

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=101154

David you will be interested in this. A different angle on our conspiracy discussions. I am sure everyone else will be too.
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Conspiracy theories abound on the left and the right–the “Birthers” are only the most recent incarnation. But there are plenty of scary secrets out there that are real and well-documented, from Max Blumenthal’s investigations into the religious right to Jeremy Scahill’s work on Blackwater. It can be hard to tell where the conspiracy theories begin and the truth ends. Our guests today talk about shady global conspiracies, corporate overlords, and the military-industrial complex, and what we can do about any of it.

John Perkins is the author of Hoodwinked and Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and has written about how corporations push politicians around and even threaten them with violence. Russ Baker, meanwhile, is the author of Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America and has written extensively about the military-industrial complex. They argue the only weapon we have is public opinion and public pressure–and we need to bring it to bear not just on the government, but on the corporations.

http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com/2009/11/11/secret-global-empires-collapse-and/

The Seppo Ambasssador to Afghanistan appears to be instrumental in the Obi deliberations. An ex General has/is effectively standing on McCrystals toes so to speak. Interesting

U.S. envoy resists increase in troops;

But Eikenberry’s last-minute interventions have highlighted the nagging undercurrent of the policy discussion: the U.S. dependence on a partnership with a Karzai government whose incompetence and corruption is a universal concern within the administration. After months of political upheaval, in the wake of widespread fraud during the August presidential election, Karzai was installed last week for a second five-year term.

In addition to placing the Karzai problem prominently on the table, the cables from Eikenberry, a retired four-star general who in 2006-2007 commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan, have rankled his former colleagues in the Pentagon — as well as Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, defense officials said. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has stated that without the deployment of an additional tens of thousands of troops within the next year, the mission there “will likely result in failure.”

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=101156

Interesting video Chris. We are no longer conspiracy theorists we are corporatetheoryists. They have all pegged us wrong. 👿

Chris B at 127

Nope – call me a dissenter.

Presidential power is controlled and limited with respect to acts of legislation and the rule of law. Even a rouge President is limited in terms of the extent of egregious endeavours when viewed in the fullness of time. But none of this predetermines the character of the individual nor measures the integrity of one’s soul. I agree with the commentators that there are powerful forces in play – but I don’t believe that those powers trump the potential of each and everyone one of us to be better than what we believe we are, or any less than what we believe we could be.

The only conspiracy here is a couple of authors trying to up their respective quotas while Laura Flanders plays the unwitting accomplice.

Birther Lawsuit Witnesses: Orly Taitz Told Us To Lie.
=========================================

In his decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by Orly Taitz late last month, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carterr mentioned that some witnesses complained that the birther chief urged them to lie on the stand. Now, more details are out, as one of the witnesses has made his affidavit public.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/12/birther-lawsuit-witnesses_n_355550.html

133

Nope – call me a dissenter

Geez, for a minute there Catrina i almost read that as “dentist” and was going to ask if you could do something for poor Laura Flanders’ top front tooth. It was annoying me.

An interview with an Afghani women. If there was anything you could ask the President for what would it be. Education and jobs, jobs, jobs.

Soros tells EU to step up support for eastern states.

Billionaire investor George Soros has said the European Union must do more to help its struggling eastern region, including a fast-tracking of member state applications to join the euro currency.

In an interview with EUobserver on Thursday (12 November), he also called on the EU to develop a dedicated strategy to alleviate the difficulties faced by the region’s Roma population.

“Europe has a responsibility because the financial system of eastern countries is in the hands of western banks. And that’s what has infected eastern Europe,” he said. “Europe has a responsibility to which it is not living up to.”

The world-famous currency speculator and philanthropist points to the hardships currently endured by Latvian citizens, and argues their entry into euro area ahead of the current schedule would have a minimal impact on the common currency of the 16-member eurozone.

“It would actually improve the conditions of Latvia tremendously without really hurting the euro,” he said.

I really like the guy. More on the EU Observer.
http://euobserver.com/9/28983

EU-15 on track to surpass Kyoto target.
=============================

The 15 European Union (EU) members which pledged to curb greenhouse gases by an overall eight percent under the UN’s Kyoto Protocol are on track to beat the target, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Thursday.

Under the 1997 Protocol, the EU-15 promised as a whole to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by eight percent by a 2008-2012 time-frame compared to 1990 levels.

“The latest projections indicate that the EU-15 will go further, reaching a total reduction of more than 13 percent below the base year,” the Copenhagen-based EEA said in a press release.

The figures are based on projections by EU Member States.

continued on
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/un-climate-warming.1ek

Military Industrial Complex to donate war profits fiscal 9/10 to families of victims and Vets:

“The drone program won’t do it. It’s very effective at blowing up wedding parties and playgrounds, and I’m sure it’s fun for the kids jiggling the joysticks and pushing the bombs-away buttons, but the natives mind it enough to redouble their homemade bomb production whenever one of our Hellfire missiles incinerates their innocents (which is often). And it can’t kill enough fast enough to do the job.

More troops will mean more firefights and more dead heroes. We call them heroes after we waste them, after we’ve extinguished them, picked up or scraped up what we can retrieve, stabilized the pulp and shards against immediate putrefaction, and boxed them bound for Dover where, upon viewing their procession across the tarmac one night, President Obama pronounced that particular habeas corpus “a sobering reminder.” Indeed. And will it be thirty thousand more, Mr. President, or forty, or fifty-five?”

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/12

yeah, paddy, jumped the turtle. :mrgreen:

From the moment he poodle-wigged Christopher Pyne, the bloke outted himself as a degenerate of some standing. Maybe he’ll go all the way?

Afghanistans equivalent of the Burmese lady under continuous house arrest wants the Americans to go home.

Afghans’ ‘Bravest Woman’ Calls on U.S. to Leave

Malalai Joya, called the “bravest woman in Afghanistan,” is finishing up a U.S. tour where she has pressed the Obama administration to pull the military out of her country. She says nothing could be worse for women than what she sees as the current civil war.

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=101178

There’s that old saying again;
What goes round!

No such luck for Glenn Beck. The World Internet Property Organization (WIPO) has just ruled that the site, described by its owner Isaac Eiland-Hall as a “satirical critique of Beck’s conspiratorial politics,” was “strongly protected” under the First Amendment. A ruling, which I imagine may further open a floodgate for the creation of similarly extreme sites should Beck remain as zeitgeisty and controversial as he has been these last few months. From the ruling:

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=101213

Polls suggest healthcare debate a boon to GOP Senate candidates.
==============================================

The healthcare battle appears to be helping Republicans running for the Senate.

Two Quinnipiac polls released Thursday show the leading GOP candidates in Connecticut and Ohio growing their leads.

Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) leads Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), 49-38, and former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has opened his first leads over two potential Democratic opponents.
The surveys are the first major Senate polls since the House passed its healthcare bill on Saturday.

President Barack Obama’s approval on the healthcare issue has slipped in Ohio from 44 percent to 36 percent in the last two months, and now 57 percent of voters disapprove of his handling of it. Voters also by a wide margin say they oppose the healthcare bill, 55-36, after they were evenly divided, 44-44, in September.

In Connecticut, the drop is less drastic, and voters still support the bill by a 47-42 margin. But the all-important independent voters disapprove of Obama’s handling of the issue, 55-36. Two months ago, they disapproved by a six-point margin.

continued on The Hill

Food for thought.

Affidavit In Birther Suit Contains Extraordinary Claims Against Orly Taitz.
==============================================

An affidavit from conspiracy theorist Lucas Smith filed in a now-dismissed Birther lawsuit details charges that attorney Orly Taitz, among many other things, asked Smith to perjure himself. The federal judge in the case has said he was “deeply concerned” about the charges, along with similar claims from at least one other prospective witness.

Lucas Smith, a Birther activist whose past claims have been debunked by even Birther-friendly WorldNetDaily, claims Taitz wanted him to falsely say in court that an incident where he was almost hit by a car in Los Angeles amounted to an “attempt on my life” by operatives sent by President Obama.

continued on TPM
Wasn’t she trying to start a conspiracy?

Obama’s Rests His Thumb on Scales of U.S. Justice for “Scholarly” Application:

In a just-posted New York Times article, Charlie Savage also notes that bringing an accused terrorist of Mohammed’s notoriety to the U.S. for trial is unprecedented and likely to provoke intense political controversy. In that “debate,” I’m squarely on Obama’s side, as is any person who believes in the most basic Constitutional precepts.
But the more consequential impact of Obama’s decision is likely to be overlooked: we’re now formally creating a multi-tiered justice system for accused Muslim terrorists where they only get the level of due process consistent with the State’s certainty that it will win. Mohammed gets a real trial because he confessed and we’re thus certain we can win in court; since we’re less certain about al-Nashiri, he’ll be denied a trial and will only get a military commission; others will be denied any process entirely and imprisoned indefinitely. The outcome is pre-determined and the process then shaped to assure it ahead of time, thus perfectly adhering to this exchange from Chapter 12 of Alice in Wonderland:
“Let the jury consider their verdict,” the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.
“No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first — verdict afterward.”
“Stuff and nonsense!” said Alice loudly. “The idea of having the sentence first!”
“Hold your tongue!” said the Queen, turning purple.
“I won’t!” said Alice.
“Off with her head!” the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.
How is that remotely just or fair under any definition of those terms? As Davis wrote: “We need to work to change the negative perceptions that exist about Guantanamo and our commitment to the law. Formally establishing a legal double standard will only reinforce them.” There’s nothing “pragmatic” or “moderate” about creating a multi-tiered justice system where only some people get trials; it’s both counter-productive and profoundly unjust.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/13-4
—————————–
Paddy, wonderful memories from the Floydsters, those tainted and talented cosmic Pinkoes. Speaking of Dark Sides, have you scoped the film “Moon” yet? Someone said that it was like a cerebral dog pound without a release clause.

All programs are superb, the best from Aunty this year. Final program airs esdt 8:30 next Thursday.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/geo/documentaries/interactive/addictedtomoney/
—————–

gaffy, Gordon Brown’s FU to Roo re test cricket in Pommyland is a furthur example of the Delaware’s dwindling dynasty and his diminishing influence as a Player. It’s wonderful to observe the vainglorious old grub him the recipient of a slight so savage. This is England, afterall. Alan Bond was given similar short shrift when he got too far up himself.

As Nabs at LP said, when the old boy carks it, his empire will disperse quicker than a sliced pizza at a stoner party. :mrgreen:

163
EC
I love the way they chest beat and pat the old bastard on the back.

For the first time in years i actually bought todays Sat Townsville Bulletin.
Lo and behold, everywhere else in the world his empire is diminishing into a shadow of his good times, but they have devoted almost half a page to say how the Bully over the past twelve months has recorded the highest increase in Monday-Friday readership of any daily newspaper in Australia. By that i would almost reckon that involves sales as well.

A quick back of the envelope calculis;
Growth rate 5% = %5 of 180,000 =9000 a year = 180 per week = lests say 90 units (hubby and wife) at 70% readership = 60 papers a day.
Everywhere else there is decline and in Sydney i hear they have trouble giving the shit away free.

That is not a bad effort i suppose, a tiny far away city gets the prize only because it is the only local newsprint between Cairns and Mackay and it has a growth rate of some 5%.
The only reason for the increase would be the arrivals buying it looking for Rooms for Rent as there is no news in it.
Oh dear, whatever turns them on i guess.

Sorry, the rag is such a big operation that i can’t even link to the story on their website for you.

“If you could ask Obama for one thing what would it be”? Answer, “jobs, jobs jobs.” This is the way to do it. Using Fair Trade.

Democrats’ Fate Tied to Health Care Bill
=================================

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), chairman of the House Democratic campaign committee, says his party is going to have some tough contests in 2010 but that doesn’t mean Republicans are going to take over the House, reports CQ Politics.

Said Van Hollen: “People who think this is a redux of 1994 are totally misreading the current situation.”

Nonetheless, he does agree that his party’s fate will be tied to the health care reform bill.

“The political fortunes of the entire caucus are tied together in getting this passed” and that failure to pass the bill would “damage Democrats’ prospects in the next election” and “show a failure to deliver” on a promise made in many Members’ campaigns.

http://politicalwire.com

What Will Republicans Do if Health Care Passes?
====================================

Ron Brownstein notes that if President Obama does sign a health care reform bill, “which appears more likely than not, Republicans will face a momentous choice between consolidation and repudiation — between accepting the new program and seeking to dismantle it. The alternative paths are neatly captured by the GOP’s contrasting reactions to the two central cords of America’s existing social safety net.”

“After FDR got Social Security approved in 1935, Alf Landon, his Republican challenger in 1936, denounced it… Roosevelt’s landslide victory over Landon (and subsequent re-elections) provided Social Security the time to build impregnable support…”

“By contrast, Republicans largely accepted Medicare soon after President Johnson signed it into law in 1965.”

Seems like it would tie in extremely well with “It was George Bushes fault”
http://politicalwire.com

Obama Approval Rises in North Carolina.
==============================

New polls from Civitas and Public Policy Polling show President Obama’s approval rates on the uptick in North Carolina.

Tom Jensen: “This improvement in Obama’s standing means that a year after he took the state in the Presidential race by the smallest of margins he is in more or less the exact same position now that he was then. North Carolinians are evenly divided in their feelings about Obama and if he had to stand before the voters in the state again today it would probably be just as close as it was last year.”

Nate Silver’s generic poll, seems to conflict with how other polls are going for the Democrats. (posted elswhere).

Volume 56, Number 19 · December 3, 2009
Who Are the Blue Dogs?
By Michael Tomasky

If the Democrats are eventually to increase their majority, the only place to increase it is in districts that are currently red, or at best “purple.” Thus the paradox that a larger Democratic majority, at least in the House, will likely make for a somewhat more conservative one. The Blue Dogs will long be with us.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23432

175 That’s assuming no one helps liberals win primaries. I think you will find liberals exist in the south.

BBC’s Carrie Gracie talks crashes — personal and financial — with the former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer — who led investigations into America’s financial giants before resigning over a sex scandal.

Sen. Byrd about to break record for longest time in Congress
==============================================

On Wednesday, Sen. Robert C. Byrd is set to become the longest-serving member in the history of the U.S. Congress.

The West Virginia Democrat was first elected to the Senate in 1958, taking his oath of office on Jan. 3, 1959. Before that, Byrd served three two-year terms in the House of Representatives.

He is about to pass the current record holder, Carl Hayden of Arizona, who served in the U.S. House and Senate for 57 years.

Byrd already holds the record for service in the U.S. Senate.
On Wednesday, Byrd will have been a senator for 50 years, 10 months and 18 days, in addition to his six years in the House.

During his career, Byrd has served alongside 12 different presidents. In 1976, he briefly considered running for president himself.

Byrd is the only West Virginian to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress and the state Legislature.

Gov. Joe Manchin will host Wednesday’s commemoration of Byrd’s landmark achievement at the state Capitol. Members of the state Legislature, Byrd’s staff and the public are all invited to attend.

continued here..
http://wvgazette.com/News/200911140549

Hopefully now that the record is out of the way he will retire. He is very ill. We do need someone who is able to vote and be active in the senate.

184. Now that I have seen the video’s of the debate. I can say they are very, very good. Well worth watching. Definitely worth passing on to friends.

162
Enemy Combatant says:

Speaking of Dark Sides, have you scoped the film “Moon” yet? Someone said that it was like a cerebral dog pound without a release clause.

Just this minute finished watching it Ecky. It’s an absolute gem.
Wonderful visuals and the performance of Sam Rockwell is a blast.
(It would be even better on the big screen.)

All very Zen. 🙂

Chris, the dad seemed overjoyed that his little darlin’ wasn’t going to have any self-assertion issues. Min loved it. 🙂

What a demolition job Hitchens and Fry did on the the representatives of Holy Mother Church! For a change, C.H. seemed unaffected by the turps and was lethal. Stephen Fry was passionate, articulate and convincing. Absolutely no doubt he spoke from the core of his being which made his delivery most moving indeed. Will never forget how gays were actively persecuted at school. Loved his comment about how the Catholic hierarchy were obsessed about sex and if they were foodies they wouls be either anorexic or pathologically obese.

paddy, the neanderthals who run the local picture show decided in their wisdom to pass on “Moon”. Fucken cretins.
Yes, cinephiles (and wankers like me) DO need a big screen for that sort of thing to work best. Hope it’s still on in Sydney when I’m there in December. Will report back in due course and maybe swap a note or two.

Catrina, that South American gentleman of Teh Left was extraordinarily well-educated Pan-American-wise.
Like me, he doesn’t feature that US interests in the region are aligned closely with the aims and objectives of the St. Vincent De Paul Society, as founded. 🙂

Frank Rich and Glenn Greenwald chip in with their usually cogent contributions:

About the only prominent voice among the liberal-bashing, Obama-loathing right who has noted this gaping contradiction is Mark Steyn of National Review. “Members of the best trained, best equipped fighting force on the planet” were “gunned down by a guy who said a few goofy things no one took seriously,” he wrote. “And that’s the problem: America has the best troops and fiercest firepower, but no strategy for throttling the ideology that drives the enemy — in Afghanistan and in Texas.” You have to applaud Steyn’s rare intellectual consistency within his camp. One imagines that he does not buy the notion that our Army, however brilliant, has a shot at building “strong personal relationships” with a population that often regards us as occupiers and infidels………..

If we have learned anything concrete so far from the massacre at Fort Hood, it’s that our hawks, for all their certitude, are as utterly confused as the rest of us about who it is we’re fighting in Afghanistan and to what end.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/opinion/15rich.html?_r=1

“People in capitals all over the world have hosted trials of high-level terrorist suspects using their normal justice system. They didn’t allow fear to drive them to build island-prisons or create special commissions to depart from their rules of justice. Spain held an open trial in Madrid for the individuals accused of that country’s 2004 train bombings. The British put those accused of perpetrating the London subway bombings on trial right in their normal courthouse in London. Indonesia gave public trials using standard court procedures to the individuals who bombed a nightclub in Bali. India used a Mumbai courtroom to try the sole surviving terrorist who participated in the 2008 massacre of hundreds of residents. In Argentina, the Israelis captured Adolf Eichmann, one of the most notorious Nazi war criminals, and brought him to Jerusalem to stand trial for his crimes.”

http://www.commondreams.org/print/49437

Enemy Combatant at 195

Cat can peg a Commie in the dark at fifty paces without night vision scope.

I am so going to add that to my CV (under ‘Extraordinary Skills’).

🙂

Well, i for one did not think it would be any different and now it is being revealed that Sarah is re-writing history to paint her on the right side of it. Another good feed of nothing to help the GOP explode even further.

McCain camp: Palin account ‘all fiction’

Top aides to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign hit back at Sarah Palin Friday and Saturday, calling the former vice presidential nominee’s soon-to-be-released book “revisionist and self serving” “fiction.”

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=101371

Seppo SNAFU :

Brutusina The Brave has layed it on the line, nebulously, despite President Karzai Korruptus having publicly mocked ham-fisted U.S. policy.
SoS, HRC, says:
“He’s our man in Kabul, get used to it! Afghanis need to realise that this outcome is best for them and best for the U.S. National Interest going forward.”

Ms Clinton also laid out America’s goals in Afghanistan – to defeat Al Qaeda then leave.

Who’s gonna break it to Brutusina that there are at best, 100 card-carrying Al-Kaeda remaining in Afghanistan. The other A-K dudes osmosed like free radicals across the completely permeable Waziristani border where the Pak-ISI were supposed to have “contained” them with all that money the CIA gave them to do just that.
Screwing up works better for social climbers than hegemonists it seems.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/16/2743396.htm

Meanwhile, check out these latest designs being sold by the carpet-mongers of Kabul and Kandahar. Stocks are flying out the tent-flaps faster than body parts at an IED re-union. Lucky shoppers are getting all pink-and-misty-eyed at the announcement that everything simply must go. No reasonable offer is being refused.

“Those crazy Brits and Yankees say these bargains are too good to miss!”, an excited Axminster wholesaler who is first cousin to President Karzai said yesterday, “we kicked them out three times already, but they never realise it’s closing time until it’s time to go again.”

“The difference between Nato and Soviet interventions is not always apparent to ordinary Afghans. For many years the shopkeepers along Chicken Street, the main tourist bazaar in Kabul, sold carpets patterned with Hind gunships and BTRs, the distinctive eight-wheeled armoured vehicles whose carcasses still litter the countryside, testimony to the mujahedin’s Pyrrhic victory. These days such souvenirs are decorated with Chinooks and armoured personnel carriers that look dispiritingly like British Vikings. Another decade, another invasion: it’s all the same to the carpet-sellers.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/james-fergusson-obama-is-haunted-by-gorbachevs-ghost-1820848.html

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El Stupidito & The Apple People:

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20091115_the_righter/

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