StupidiNews!

• Additional protests outside US embassy compounds in Cairo, Egypt and Sana'a, Yemen continued on Thursday, with crowds chanting and facing riot police.
• A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against parts of the NDAA signed last year by President Obama, authorizing detention for "US supporters" of terror groups.
• Household incomes in 2011 dropped again and income inequality rose in the latest yearly Census survey of American incomes and poverty.
• The number of Americans without insurance declined for the first time since the Great Recession as 1.3 million Americans gained coverage last year.
• The House has reauthorized the FISA law allowing for revised warrantless wiretapping, but the bill now faces a tougher road in the Senate.

Last Call

Mitt Romney just blew it.  He's done, folks.

Mitt Romney reiterated on Wednesday his claim that President Obama’s “first response” to an attack on a diplomatic compound in Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens was to “sympathize” with Stevens’s attackers.

In a press conference delivered minutes after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the attacks, Romney expanded on his initial statement, accusing Obama of apologizing to Islamic militants.

“We join together in the condemnation of attacks on the American embassies and the loss of American life and join in sympathy for these people,”Romney said. “It’s also important for me — just as it was for the White House, last night by the way — to say that the statements were inappropriate, and in my view a disgraceful statement on the part of our administration to apologize for American values.”

It was the second time in just over 12 hours that Romney had suggested the White House sided with rioters and militants. Romney’s initial statement came late Tuesday, after news had broke that an American officer had been killed in Libya, but before the State Department had confirmed Stevens was among the dead. It inaccurately suggested that the U.S. embassy in Cairo, which also came under attack, had issued a statement condemning an anti-Muslim film online that had sparked the riots as its “first response” to the violence. In fact, the embassy and multiple press reports assert that the statement came before the protests and was intended to head off a confrontation.

To recap, Romney doubled down on his awful, completely political attacks blaming the embassy staff and the President for the deaths in Libya.  Then he smirked and walked away.

Done, folks.  Mitt's toast.  Gonna put this in the Future Stupidity files, but this is Romney's "The fundamentals of this economy are strong" moment when the Dow lost 350.  I think he's lost it for good.

Big Bad Bibi Baby

Josh Marshall notes that Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to, at this point, get Mitt Romney elected.  Josh is worried that we're in an "any means necessary" situation, too.

We have a high-octane tussle tonight between the White House and the Netanyahu government in Israel. It started with a Netanyahu speech suggesting that the US had lost its “moral right” to block an Israeli attack on Iran by failing to put red lines beyond which Iran couldn’t go.

That was followed by a leak from Netanyahu’s team claiming that Netanyahu had requested a meeting with Obama when he travels to the UN — only to be refused. The White House scrambled tonight putting out a flat denial of that claim. In essence, the White House called the Israelis liars.

As I mentioned a moment ago in an impromptu editorial meeting, this has obvious political implications for the US election. But I don’t think the intensity of the engagement is mainly about politics. It’s about policy.

Netanyahu desperately wants an attack on Iran. The White House desperately wants to avoid war. The stakes are quite, quite high. 

I agree, but as Bernard Finel points out at the Juice:

The notion that Israel will launch a unilateral attack on Iran is almost surely a bluff. It is not clear how they would do it, and no analysis I’ve seen suggests that can launch an effective attack by themselves. Natanyahu may be reckless, but Israel is, in the end, a democracy, and there are checks and balances as well as various civil-military constraints on action.

So while the Obama team may not be eager to get into a pissing match with Natanyahu over Iran in the weeks before the election, there isn’t any “reason to fear” that this situation will transform the election. If anything, Obama’s steady foreign policy hand would be a plus when compared to the desperate rants we’re likely to get from the Romney camp.

Israel would have hit Iran long ago if they honestly believed they had no choice.  What Bibi is trying to do is force that no choice scenario, and he's doing so in such a way that he's influencing the US election.  There should be a massive backlash from Congress.   Sadly, it's one bought and paid for, both parties, by AIPAC.  No backlash is coming.

Now Bibi is trying to bully his way to a Romney victory and a green light to hit Iran.  Given the insanity of the GOP and Romney's utter failure in foreign policy credibility, that's a guarantee should Obama lose.

Yet another reason why you need to get out and vote Obama in November, as if you needed another one.

Dirty Pool, Old Man

Now, I know Rahm Emanuel is on the wrong side of this Chicago teachers' strike and all, but there is no call for something like this, folks.




At long last sir, have you no decency?

A Liar By Any Other Name Is Paul Ryan

The Immoral Minority ran a spectacular piece calling Paul Ryan out on his lies.  Because he tells outright and absolute lies here, people.  Notice his eyes don't give a tell.  He doesn't swallow hard, lose his concentration or bat an eye.

The man is a gifted liar, but a liar in any case.

RYAN: No, no — I have to correct on you this, Norah. I voted for a mechanism that says the sequester will occur if we don’t cut $1.2 trillion in government. … We can get into this nomenclature; I voted for the Budget Control Act. But the Obama Administration proposed $478 billion in defense cuts. We don’t agree with that, our budget rejected that, and then on top of that is another $500 billion in defense cuts in the sequester. 

O’DONNELL: Right. A trillion dollars in defense spending, and you voted for it! 

RYAN: No, Norah. I voted for the Budget Control Act.

He tries to shuffle the math (badly) and call it by another name, but when the facts don't add up to what he is saying, he simply pretends Nora O'Donnell doesn't understand the truth.  He tells her she is mistaken, though she is the one presenting provable truths and he is backpedaling and failing.

Please check out the whole thing here.

St. Louis Mayor Tries For DNC 2016

ST. LOUIS -- If St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay has his way, the next Democratic National Conventionwill be in his city.

Slay, a Democrat in heavily-Democratic St. Louis, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ( http://bit.ly/Q2t9q6) that his administration continues to explore making a bid for the 2016 convention.

St. Louis was a finalist for the 2012 presidential nominating convention but lost out to Charlotte, N.C.

A girl can hope.  If so I'll be there covering the entire thing, safety be damned.  Because I can promise you, there will be brawls and shots fired if they allow this to go down in my neck of the woods.

Still, it would be awesome times infinity if it works.

[Zandar's Note:]  Considering St. Louis is basically halfway between where I am in Cincy and where Bon is in Springfield, we'll both be there if that's on.  Count on it.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/07/4796444/slay-hopes-to-lure-democratic.html#storylink=cpy

Egypt Me Out Of An Embassy

This might be a problem.

Angry protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday and tore down the American flag, apparently in protest of a film thought to insult the Prophet Mohammed.

A volley of warning shots were fired as a large crowd gathered around the compound, said CNN producer Mohammed Fahmy, who was on the scene, though it is not clear who fired the shots.

Egyptian police and army personnel have since formed defensive lines around the facility in an effort to prevent the demonstrators from advancing farther, but not before the protesters affixed their standard atop the embassy.

The black flag, which hangs atop a ladder inside the compound, is adorned with white characters that read, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger," an emblem often used in al Qaeda propaganda.

Egypt still is far from stable.  The Morsi government still has to deal with the military council there, and the longer the instability lasts, the worse things are going to get.  I'm hoping that the US can help Egypt find the path to actual freedom, but considering we can't really do that for ourselves, I'm not sure what right we have to interfere, or that we even should.

So what happens now? Either way, I feel better with President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton at the helm here, far more than I am with the GOP.

The problem is, a repeat of this is now going on today in Benghazi, Libya.

A US state department official was killed and at least one other American was wounded when militiamen stormed the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

It is believed the protest was held over a US-produced film that is said to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.

Armed men raided the compound with grenades before setting it on fire.

On Tuesday, protesters against the film breached the walls of the US embassy in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

In the attack in Benghazi, unidentified armed men stormed the grounds, shooting at buildings and throwing handmade bombs into the compound. 

One of the dead is now reported to be the US Ambassador, Chris Stephens.

The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff were killed in a rocket attack on Tuesday in the Libyan city of Benghazi, a Libyan official said.

It was not clear if the ambassador was in his car or the Libyan consulate when the attack occurred.

"The Libyan ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets at them," the official in Benghazi told Reuters.

This is all getting a bit insane now.

Well, That's One Person Who Can Vote In Pennsylvania

Jim Cramer may be a doofus and is utterly clueless on the economy and markets, but I wouldn't wish Pennsylvania's Voter ID on anyone, even Jim Cramer and his family.  It's so awful, it was keeping his dad from being able to get an ID to vote.

Pennsylvania's voter ID law will no longer be a problem for the father of CNBC host Jim Cramer. Cramer tweeted that his father, a veteran, lacked the specific form of photo identification that would allow him to voter in November under Pennsylvania's voter ID law. Cramer now says that Pennsylvania authorities contacted him and assured him they'll make sure his dad can vote.

I'm glad for Cramer's father, because everyone deserves the right to vote as an American citizen.  But as Ryan J. Reilly points out:

That's one down, hundreds of thousands of registered voters who lack state-issued identification to go.

And so it goes.

StupidiNews!

• Credit rating agency Moody's is again threatening a downgrade of the US's credit rating unless Congress approves a significant long-term debt reduction plan in 2013.
• Back in Congress before the fall campaign break, House Republicans plan legislation to strip President Obama's state reporting waivers from welfare reform legislation.
• A smaller than expected rise in employer-based health insurance premiums in 2012 is good news, but costs are still outpacing inflation and wages.
• Germany's top court cleared the way for the ECB's bailout fund program, but conditions have been imposed on its use.
• Some publishers are already seeing lower e-book prices in the wake of the Department of Justice settlement with Apple.

Last Call

FOX News:  still the propaganda arm of the GOP.



The "real" unemployment rate doubled under the black guy!  IMPEACH!  IMPEEEEEE...wait, they're comparing the actual unemployment rate (U-3) to the underemployment rate (U-6) and lying that they are both the same thing.

Sure.  Because that's what FOX does.  They lie to attack the Democrats, because they are the cable channel for the Republican Party.  Nobody who regularly believes FOX is going to check the stats, you know.

The 7.8 percent figure is the official unemployment rate from January 2009. This statistic reports on people who are unemployed and actively looking for a job. But as of the latest report, the official unemployment rate is 8.1 percent (0.3 percent higher than it was in January 2009), not 14.7 percent.

The 14.7 percent figure is a completely different measurement of the unemployed, which in addition to those who are actively looking for work, also counts people who are unemployed and discouraged from looking for a new job, part-time workers who prefer full-time employment, and more. This alternative measure of unemployment, which conservatives often call the "real" unemployment rate, was 14.2 percent in January 2009 -- 0.5 percentage points lower than it is today.

So yes, they are dirty liars.  I've talked about the U-6 number before, and it's gone *down* under Obama.  But FOX isn't a news channel, it's a party platform channel.  See?

Seriously Unfinished Bush Business

The NY Times drops this op-ed from Kurt Eichenwald, detailing a parttern of how intelligence on the 9/11 attacks were ignored because the crazy neocon assholes in the Bush administration thought it was -- get this now -- disinformation to distract us from the real threat, Saddam Hussein.

No really.  That's the deal.

The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be “imminent,” although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible.

But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day. 

In response, the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real. 

“The U.S. is not the target of a disinformation campaign by Usama Bin Laden,” the daily brief of June 29 read, using the government’s transliteration of Bin Laden’s first name. Going on for more than a page, the document recited much of the evidence, including an interview that month with a Middle Eastern journalist in which Bin Laden aides warned of a coming attack, as well as competitive pressures that the terrorist leader was feeling, given the number of Islamists being recruited for the separatist Russian region of Chechnya. 

And the C.I.A. repeated the warnings in the briefs that followed. Operatives connected to Bin Laden, one reported on June 29, expected the planned near-term attacks to have “dramatic consequences,” including major casualties. On July 1, the brief stated that the operation had been delayed, but “will occur soon.” Some of the briefs again reminded Mr. Bush that the attack timing was flexible, and that, despite any perceived delay, the planned assault was on track. 

Yet, the White House failed to take significant action. Officials at the Counterterrorism Center of the C.I.A. grew apoplectic. On July 9, at a meeting of the counterterrorism group, one official suggested that the staff put in for a transfer so that somebody else would be responsible when the attack took place, two people who were there told me in interviews. The suggestion was batted down, they said, because there would be no time to train anyone else. 

So, if this is all true, the neocons in the Bush administration were always, always, always going after war with Iraq, and they got it.  We kind of knew that already, so I don't see what this op-ed ultimately changes, but it's a nice reminder going into the election in two months that the same people now want open war with Iran.

You think Romney will stand up to stop them?   Sure he will.  Just like Bush did with Iraq, right?

Now Here's A Question I'd Like Answered

So, what the hell is North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones doing on a white supremacist radio show?

A North Carolina Republican congressman appeared on a notorious white nationalist radio program on Saturday to talk up legislation he co-authored accusing President Barack Obama of committing impeachable offenses. Rep. Walter Jones, a fiercely anti-war congressman who often breaks with his party on key votes, appeared on the "Political Cesspool," a Memphis-based program hosted by ardent white nationalists James Edwards and Eddie Miller. The show has been condemned by groups like the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center for promoting racist, homophobic, and anti-semitic beliefs. Jones is the first member of Congress to appear on the program.

An avowed white nationalist who says David Duke is "above reproach," Edwards has referred to African-Americans as "heathen savages" and "subhuman" and suggested that slavery was "the greatest thing that ever happened" to blacks. The show's mission statement is blunt: "We represent a philosophy that is pro-White and are against political centralization," it declares. It then outlines a series of issues the show exists to promote. "We wish to revive the White birthrate above replacement level fertility and beyond to grow the percentage of Whites in the world relative to other races," reads one plank. Another bullet-point endorses the Confederacy: "Secession is a right of all people and individuals. It was successful in 1776 and this show honors those who tried to make it successful in 1865."

Yeah, so please explain to me how Freedom Fries Walter here is, as a sitting member of Congress up for re-election, allowed to do this without a national outcry, when he's on a white supremacist radio show with the express purpose of pushing his bill to impeach our first black President.

Go ahead, I'd love to hear the explanations of how I'm a racist for pointing this out.

Rory McIlroy Excels

CARMEL, Ind. – Rory McIlroy beat the strongest leaderboard in golf this year Sunday in the BMW Championship and joined some elite company.

Everyone knew Boy Wonder was a special player when he won the U.S. Open last summer with a record score. The last month has established him as the dominant player in golf, with three wins in four tournaments loaded with the best players – the PGA Championship and two FedEx Cup playoff events.

McIlroy became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, and with his sixth career win, he joined Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win at least six times at age 23.

By all accounts, he's a great kid and an all-around good guy.  The real story isn't that he won, but how he has handled himself in his short but rising golf career.  He has shown sportsmanship and honor in a sport that values those highly.  Watching him Sunday, I also saw him show a lot of grace when he was under pressure and things didn't go the way he wanted.  Unlike some golfers, he simply moved on to the next shot, and that patience and control served him well.

There's no doubt we will keep hearing more about McIlroy as he continues to climb the ladder, but at this stage he has already stepped onto a very small stage and set himself apart.  Good luck to him, he will need it against Tiger and even Mickelson, who won't give up easily.  He picked a heck of a time to be a runaway success.

Hero Kid Saves Father, Sister

PEABODY, Mass. — Massachusetts state police say a 12-year-old boy steered his family's car to safety along Interstate 95 after his father suffered what appeared to be a seizure while driving.

Troopers say the boy, who's from Dracut, took the wheel Saturday, steered it into the southbound breakdown lane and applied the brakes. He also used his dad's cellphone to call 911 and described his surroundings to a dispatcher, then brought his 9-year-old, special needs sister to safety behind a guardrail.

That's a kid who was raised well, and taught how to handle a crisis.  Many adults would be overwhelmed under such circumstances.  What a brave boy, I hope his father is okay and can tell him in person what a great job he did.

The Greatest 9/11 Troll Poll Ever

I do love it when Tom Jensen and the Public Policy Polling crew stick in a completely bizarre question to ask a specific group of voters, and this week's Ohio poll was no exception as Nick Baumann at MoJo notes:

In what some (one guy on Twitter) have called "a stroke of comic genius," Public Policy Polling decided to ask Ohio Republicans who they thought "deserved more credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden: Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. In what some (my colleague Tim Murphy) have called "the greatest thing ever," a full 15 percent of Ohio Republicans surveyed said Romney deserved more credit than the president. Another 47 percent said they were "unsure." 

So, 62 percent of Ohio Republicans are pretty much Obama-hating dipsticks.  No "news" there.  Here's the interesting part:

The poll didn't offer an option for "the Navy SEALs" or "the troops," who undoubtedly would have blown out Romney and Obama if they were options. The news in this poll—as much as any one poll can be news—is that it found Obama leading Romney by five percentage points in Ohio. (The full poll results are here.) No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio. Here's a reality check on the state of the presidential race: Nate Silver, the New York Times' polling guru, now gives the president a nearly 80 percent chance of winning reelection.

But yeah, 62% of Ohio Republicans flat out refuse to give Obama credit for killing bin Laden.  You can fill in your own reasons as to why.