THIS REMINDED OF THE VILLAGERS & BILL CLINTON

In Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion (1922), he notes how the Insiders can get wrapped up in their own social circles, thereby missing out on other views:

TORT REFORM AND INDIRECT COSTS

I noted below that one study estimated the additional cost of practicing defensive medicine simply to avoid a lawsuit may range from 5 percent to 9 percent of total health care costs. The CBO just came out with an analysis that puts this at 0.3 percent. This is still worth doing but it's not the silver bullet the wingers claim it to be.

KERREY STILL STUCK ON STUPID

In his latest WSJ op-ed, Kerrey is still trapped in the illusion that we can create a stable democracy in Afghanistan:

While success in Afghanistan may not look the same as it does in Iraq, I believe there is a very good chance that a stable democracy can survive there. ... The heroism of Afghan voters who turned out this past August in spite of the Taliban's violence should inspire us to stand by their side until security and stability are established in their country.

Now, let's use the memo from the DNI to get a serious view of the problems in Afghanistan.

1) We don't even know the number of the Taliban, let alone the other groups:

Calculating Taliban manpower is inherently difficult. Although the insurgency has steadily grown since the Taliban's ouster in late-2001, the blurred identities of the numerous groups contributing to instability in Afghanistan, along with the wide variety of factors motivating new recruits, complicate efforts to formulate a precise estimate of the size of the insurgency. Many fighters are part-time insurgents who have other occupations and are less ideologically or politically committed than full-time members of the insurgency, making any estimation of strength difficult and transitory.

2) Like Iraq, we have a hard time telling friend from foe:

Beyond full-time and ideologically committed senior leaders and their subordinate commanders, identifying who is and is not an "insurgent" becomes challenging, especially in a tribal society where local groups and power brokers constantly compete against one another as well as the government. In the Afghan context, Pashtun village and tribal elders, tribal khans, and mujahideen-era commanders are continually aligning and realigning against the government to advance their parochial interests. In many instances, aligning with an insurgent network is not necessarily an endorsement of insurgent objectives but a tactical decision to achieve any number of short-term ends, including exerting pressure on the provincial administration, tapping other sources of illicit revenue, and retaliating for perceived slights.

3) Also like Iraq, the central government is dysfunctional:

At a minimum, significant progress in Afghan National Security Forces, the judicial system, national and local governance, the economic sector, and improved regional relations remain necessary before Afghanistan is capable of providing security and basic services without significant foreign assistance.

We also don't have a group in Afghan, like we had in Iraq with the Anbar Uprising, who are willing to fight with us.

WHAT COLIN POWELL SAID ABOUT GRANPA MCCAIN

You may recall that Fats and other winger pundits claimed that Colin Powell only supported Barack Obama because of race but that's not true at all. Powell gave very clear reasons to doubt McCain: the economy, Palin, inclusiveness, campaign smears (from MTP, 10/19/2009):

I have especially watched over the last six of seven weeks as both of them have really taken a final exam with respect to this economic crisis that we are in and coming out of the conventions. And I must say that I've gotten a good measure of both. In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to deal with the economic problems that we were having and almost every day there was a different approach to the problem. And that concerned me, sensing that he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had. And I was also concerned at the selection of Governor Palin. She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired; but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.

I also believe that on the Republican side over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party and Mr. McCain has become narrower and narrower. Mr. Obama, at the same time, has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people.

And I've also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign ads, on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about. This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign.

And why do we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted. What they're trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that's inappropriate.

And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking at in a McCain administration. I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

This is why Powell said he'd vote for Obama:

And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

IS FATS TRYING TO BUILD UP HIS AUDIENCE?

Fats Limbaugh doesn't usually have guests and he rarely gives talks open to the public so I've been a little curious why he seems so willing to be quoted in Politico. Here's a recent example:

"This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama," Limbaugh told POLITICO in an e-mail. "And with this 'award' the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States."

Limbaugh continued: "They love a weakened, neutered U.S, and this is their way of promoting that concept. I think God has a great sense of humor, too."

Fats seems to have sent the same e-mail to TIME:

“This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama. It is a greater embarrassment than losing the Olympics bid. And with this "award" the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States. They love a weakened, neutered U.S. and this is their way of promoting that concept. I think God has a great sense of humor, too.” (h/t Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog)

Even Fats may not be immune to a shrinking ad market.

THIS SHOULD BE A HELP

The election of Pres. Obama has improved America's position in the world, especially among the top 20 nations. Last year, we were in 7th place.

U.S. most admired country globally: survey
Mon Oct 5, 2009 2:40pm EDT
By Patricia Reaney

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The United States is the most admired country globally thanks largely to the star power of President Barack Obama and his administration, according to a new poll.

It climbed from seventh place last year, ahead of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan which completed the top five nations in the Nation Brand Index (NBI).

The global survey, conducted by GFK Roper Public Affairs & Media, involved 20,000 people in 20 rich and developing countries around the globe. They were asked to rate 50 nations in categories such as culture, governance, people, exports, tourism, landscape and education.

HOW DOES A GUY THIS KRAZY GET SO FAR?

I came across this LA Times article and realized that I had almost forgotten about this lunatic. I do wonder why a man who is obviously unbalanced got to be a general?

General Casts War in Religious Terms
By Richard T. Cooper, Times Staff Writer|October 16, 2003

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has assigned the task of tracking down and eliminating Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and other high-profile targets to an Army general who sees the war on terrorism as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan.

Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, the new deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, is a much-decorated and twice-wounded veteran of covert military operations. From the bloody 1993 clash with Muslim warlords in Somalia chronicled in "Black Hawk Down" and the hunt for Colombian drug czar Pablo Escobar to the ill-fated attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran in 1980, Boykin was in the thick of things.

Yet the former commander and 13-year veteran of the Army's top-secret Delta Force is also an outspoken evangelical Christian who appeared in dress uniform and polished jump boots before a religious group in Oregon in June to declare that radical Islamists hated the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian

Discussing the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, Boykin told another audience, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

"We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this," Boykin said last year.

On at least one occasion, in Sandy, Ore., in June, Boykin said of President Bush: "He's in the White House because God put him there."

THEY ALSO REPEAT THIS MEME...

that Pres. Obama "appeased" Russia by not deploying Star Wars to the Czech Republic and Poland. The truth is that he took the pragmatic, realistic approach to the problem.

Missile Defense's Shelving Reflected Military's Concerns
Cost, Speed of Response Were Issues
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 21, 2009

... the generals again threw their weight behind a relative contraction of the effort to defend against long-range missile attacks. They cited needed budgetary savings and more immediate threats in demanding faster work to protect overseas forces and bases against shorter-range attack.

The latest shift shelved a plan to deploy in Europe an advanced radar and interceptors of long-range missiles by 2017.

So did his deployment of long-range missile interceptors in a system that the Pentagon's testing office said did not offer "a high degree of confidence in its limited capabilities."

THE WINGERS KEEP REPEATING THIS MEME...

that Pres. Obama has never praised America when he's gone abroad. This is just one counter-example from his Egypt address:

The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words - within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one."

"MANY AMERICANS"???

Writing in TIME, Nancy Gibbs parrots the conservative meme that Pres. Obama isn't strong enough:

At this moment many Americans are longing for a president who is more bully, less pulpit.

It would have been much more accurate to say that movement conservatives or talk radio buffoons want a "stronger" President.

PEACE PRIZE AWARD BRINGS OUT ANGER

The wingers are really pissed that Pres. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because that is a direct attack on their war-whore mentality. Hannity just called it the "Appeasement Award" and he seems to be representative of the other radio gasbags.

YESTERDAY WAS ANOTHER FLU DAY

I thought I had shaken the flu by Wednesday but it came back the next day. :-(

MOVEMENT CONSERVATIVES ARE BLASPHEMERS

They try to use the Word of God as camouflage for their reactionary policies and now they are trying to re-write the Bible itself to better confirm their ideology.

ANOTHER LOON FOR BECKSTER

A caller named Sam just told Beck he was like the Laodicean Church, specifically the one mentioned in Revelations. Glenn just said "thank you" and went on to the next caller. Here's the passage from Revelations:

The New Revised Standard Version
Revelation 3

3:14
"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation:

3:15
"I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot.

3:16
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

3:17
For you say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.' You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

3:18
Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

3:19
I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.

3:20
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.

3:21
To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

3:22
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches."

HM, MAYBE THIS ISN'T SUCH A BAD IDEA AFTER ALL

Glenn Beck has found another "Marxist" who has strong ties to the Obama Administration, Robert McCheney. Beck specifically mentioned this passage from an article McChesney wrote forthe February 2009 issue of the Monthly Review:

In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles. This is something that the great majority of the population will undoubtedly learn in the course of their struggles for a more equal, more humane, more collective, and more sustainable world. In the meantime, it is time to begin to organize a revolt against the ruling class–imposed ceiling on civilian government spending and social welfare in U.S. society.

I wrote last summer that the banksters are up to their old tricks and Paul Krugman wrote today that he has a similar feeling about securitization:

But here’s my question: why does it have to be a return to shadow banking? The banks don’t need to sell securitized debt to make loans — they could start lending out of all those excess reserves they currently hold. Or to put it differently, by the numbers there’s no obvious reason we shouldn’t be seeking a return to traditional banking, with banks making and holding loans, as the way to restart credit markets. Yet the assumption at the Fed seems to be that this isn’t an option — that the only way to go is back to the securitized debt market of the years just before the crisis.

Why? Are we still convinced that securitization is a far superior system to conventional banking, and if so why?

(h/t Atrios)

I DON'T GET THE CONNECTION

Phil Hendrie thinks Glenn Beck is a modern day version of George Putnam, a famous LA newsman who died recently. There's no doubt that Putnam was a wingnut, as you can see from this article he wrote for Newsmax, but the only connection I see is that they are both paranoid.

One Reporter's Opinion – An 'American Hiroshima'
George Putnam
Friday, July 15, 2005

It is this reporter's opinion that the attacks on Madrid and London are merely warm-ups to al-Qaida's plans for what is described as a possible "American Hiroshima."

According to captured terrorist documents, the "American Hiroshima" calls for the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons already in the possession of Osama bin Laden's operatives currently inside the U.S. The agents and arms have been smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border with the help of the MS-13 street gang (Mara Salvatrucha, which is now international) and other organized crime groups. The attacks are designed to kill at least 4 million Americans.

According to informants, al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union. They includes suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even missile warheads. Captured documents indicate that al-Qaida plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material purchased on the black market. Most disturbing is that at least some of these weapons have been smuggled into the U.S. for use in the planned "American Hiroshima."

RADIO TIDBITS

I caught a bit of Michael Medved's show today and he was a bit dismissive of the TEA Party movement. I think this is because the movement isn't explicitly Republican and that it has the potential to hurt the GOP in upcoming elections.

I'm not sure how much control Limbaugh and Hannity have over the ads that air on their shows, but lawyers who want to represent mesothelomia victims have recently advertised on both shows.

IT'S NOW OFFICIAL...

with Jonah Goldberg's (lame) defense of Glenn Beck, Beck is now a member of the Republican Noise Machine in very good standing.

MARK LEVIN IS A NARCISSISTIC EXTREMIST WACKO

Levin thinks health care reform is unconstitutional, along with Medicare and Social Security. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC Irvine School of Law writes that it most certainly isn't based on Supreme Court decisions going back to the 19th Century. Levin thinks his judgment is not only superior to precedents over 100 years old, he also thinks that we can safely ignore the past to satisfy his ideological preferences.

WE NEED BETTER ECONOMICS REPORTERS

Maybe I'm missing something here but Andrew Ross Sorkin doesn't seem to grasp the relation between risk and reward when it comes to U.S. Treasury bonds: the less risk, the lower the interest rate. There's also the demand/supply curve, so when the demand for treasuries increases, the interest rate declines.
Sorkin got these relationships backwards:

...Treasury bills were trading for less than 1 percent interest, as if they were no better than cash, as if the full faith of the government had suddenly become meaningless.

IF HANNITY WERE A JOURNALIST...

he would follow up on a call he got today from a man who said he was in the military and involved with manpower decisions. The man said that the original McChrystal report called for an additional 130,000 troops and they were told to re-do the report because they would never get that many troops.

CALLING OUT THE BITTER HUNCHBACK

Another pundit speaks out against Mark "Foamer" Levin! Mark McKinnon writes this in the Daily Beast:

I would have liked for the Olympics to come to the United States. But when I turned on my car radio and listened to conservative radio talk-show host Mark Levin, I was shocked by what I heard. He was spewing streams of hate-filled venom at Obama that were jaw-dropping. His favorite epithet for the president is ”jerk.” And he was reveling in Obama’s failure.

This is standard fare for Levin, who is truly a hate monger. Levin has proclaimed that “Obama is literally at war with the American people.” He calls the National Organization for Women “The National Organization of Women Who Look Like Men” and the “National Organization of Really Ugly Women.” He refers to Hilary Clinton as “Her Thighness.” He calls Sonia Sotomayor “Ruth Bader Ginsberg Plus 50 Pounds.”

Levin took time oh his show yesterday to defend himself but he did that by attacking McKinnon personally, not by refuting McKinnon's claims.

THE RADIO CONSPIRACIES

Last Sunday, Billy Cunningham said that LBJ's Great Society programs were explicitly designed to destroy the black nuclear family. This is even worse that Beck's claim that Pres. Obama wants to have a economic collapse so he can transform America into a Marxist state.

There's no point in trying to be bi-partisan with right-wing extremists.

FLU DAY

The flu has finally caught up with me and I couldn't post yesterday.

AMERICA'S REAL SOCIALIZED MEDICINE

I'm referring to the Veterans Administration and in this Bloomberg article, it does seem to do a pretty good job delivering health care. On average, it's a little better than the private sector, both for inpatient and outpatient care. The VA wasn't always this good but improvements were made in the 1990s, such as computerized records, that have led to improved care.

FRANK LUNTZ IS A LIGHTWEIGHT

No matter who pays him for his polls, Luntz simply can't be taken seriously as a pundit. On a "best of" broadcast of Lou Dobb's radio show, Luntz stated that Newt "Drill, Baby, Drill" Gingrich has the answers America needs.

BECK IS A SOCIAL DARWINIST!!!

Last week on his radio show, I heard him say that "capitalism is survival of the fittest," a quaint 19th century notion that originated with Herbert Spencer. Searching on his site, one finds that he's said something similar before. Here's an excerpt from 2/16/2009:

GLENN: They are the people that fight for evolution and survival of the fittest, but they fight it every step of the way. They won't allow it to collapse and rebuild. And you know what it is? Capitalism done right, freedom done right is like a forest fire, and the people who are the environmentalists, they try to save the forest by not allowing controlled burns or the forest to burn. So it never renews.

We know that life in unfettered capitalism would end up being as Hobbes described it:

“In the state of nature profit is the measure of right.”

THIS COULD GET INTERESTING...

Last week, Don Imus went through a list of people who would be on his debut show on FAUX and there was a noticeable silence after Glenn Beck was mentioned. Don apparently thinks that Beck is a train wreck waiting to happen and he also told Neal Cavuto that Sarah Palin is "a dope." This could turn into a neat food fight on FAUX.

WHY TRANSCRIPTS SOMETIMES AREN'T ENOUGH

(h/t caller to the Mike Malloy Show)

Transcripts necessarily omit intonation and facial expression, so you can miss the real import of what someone says. A good example is Wolf Blitzer's reaction to Rep. Alan Grayson. In the clip, Blitzer acts as if Rep. Grayson said the Earth was flat, something he doesn't do when a Republican makes an outrageous statement.

THE TUCSON TEA BAGGERS ARE STILL WITH US

They've planned a rally this coming Saturday at Tucson Electric Park, a minor league baseball stadium. They may not be Republicans but there is little doubt that almost all of them are conservative. Trent Humphries is one of the local TEA party leaders.

Tea Party group seeks added momentum
Plans Saturday rally, steps up criticism of local Democrats
By Tim Steller
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.04.2009

Humphries is a registered Republican, a member of the county party's executive committee, and ran for the Republican nomination for state representative in District 26, losing narrowly. But, he said, he rarely attends Republican meetings anymore, partly out of his commitment to the Tea Party group, partly out of disillusionment with the party.

Another B-level wingnut media star, like the last one, is featured: FAUX News' Judge Napolitano.

DO THE LISTENERS KEEP SCORE?

Hannity and War Whore Ingraham both claimed that Pres. Obama wouldn't be going to Copenhagen unless Chicago was definitely going to win the 2016 Games. Both were wrong again.