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Politics

Can politicians and talking heads involved in hotly debated issues avoid pernicious hyperbole, if only to spare the rest of us fake over-the-top outrage pomposity pontification like this? Ergh!

Will he finally make the case more convincingly and show some passion?
Obama to Push Health-Care Plan in New Hampshire After Town Hall Protests

President Barack Obama will defend his efforts to overhaul the U.S. health-care system at a town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, today after a series of protests met his fellow Democrats in recent days.

When the economy is doing poorly, give people a permanent tax cut. When the economy is doing booming, give people a permanent tax cut. Someone is uninsured, give him a tax cut. Someone needs a safety net for his retirement, give him a tax cut. Privatize everything and sabotage the government. What is there to rebrand?
GOP rebranding effort flames out

Television crews and reporters wedged themselves among the crowd of party faithful to cover the National Council for a New America’s first event at a packed pizza parlor in an Arlington, Va., strip mall. The resulting coverage dominated cable news chatter for the next week. Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney were also on board.

But the council has since flamed out – at least publicly.

Palin loses her final fight with Alaska lawmakers over stimulus

Reversing a governor’s appropriation veto requires a vote of 75 percent of the Legislature, a hurdle rarely met. The override passed 45 to 14 and if a single other legislator had voted against it or been absent from the special session, it would have failed.

Supporters argued Palin badly overstated the “strings” attached to taking the money, and that frigid Alaska could use the assistance.

The next issue that will not be reformed
Obama Says Immigration Changes Must Wait Till 2010

President Obama said Monday that efforts to change the immigration system would be a major focus for his administration only next year, after other major priorities were accomplished, including passage of a new health care system.

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War On Terror 2.0

Taliban Now Winning

The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency’s spiritual home.

Opium barons at top of kill or capture list as US targets the Taleban

The Pentagon has put 50 of Afghanistan’s powerful opium barons on a “kill or capture” list, signalling a radical shift in tactics against the Taleban.

The announcement came as the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, admitted that the insurgency, nurtured by tens of millions of dollars from the country’s vast poppy fields, now held the upper hand.

McChrystal wants huge boost in U.S. civilians in Afghanistan

In addition to requesting some 45,000 additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the country’s top American military commander will ask the Obama administration to double the number of U.S. government civilian workers who are in the country.

Obama faces tough choices on Afghanistan

Having already “surged” an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan bringing US forces up to a peak of 68,000, Mr Obama could be forgiven for responding with expletives. At a time when the US president is under acute pressure to rein in a huge US fiscal deficit and when the Pentagon is severely overstretched, another hefty troop request would be hard to satisfy.

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Around The Nation

63 already? It looks like 1992 was yesterday with a young Bill.
Bill Clinton Celebrates His 63rd in Las Vegas

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, is in The Congo, as part of her trip to Africa, and thus will miss the celebration. No worries. Mr. Clinton might be celebrating on the strip on Monday, but his actual birthday is not until Aug. 19.

Yikes!
Michael Douglas’ son could get life in prison

The son of actor Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas could face life in prison for selling large amounts of an illegal drug over a three-year period before his arrest late last month, court records show.

The violent anti-choice movement found its hero
Violent abortion foes flock to visit jailed Tiller murder suspect

The list of those visiting and communicating with the man accused of killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller reads like a who’s who of anti-abortion militants.

Two convicted clinic bombers. The man behind the Army of God Web site. Several activists who once signed a declaration that defended the killing of abortion doctors.

I just took a look in my crystal ball: Sanford is finished.
Governor broke law in flights

Gov. Mark Sanford violated state travel law by flying overseas in more expensive business-class seating, violations that could help build a case of impeachment against him, state Sen. David Thomas of Fountain Inn alleged Monday.

Breakfast Can Wait. The Day’s First Stop Is Online.

Karl and Dorsey Gude of East Lansing, Mich., can remember simpler mornings, not too long ago. They sat together and chatted as they ate breakfast. They read the newspaper and competed only with the television for the attention of their two teenage sons.

That was so last century. Today, Mr. Gude wakes at around 6 a.m. to check his work e-mail and his Facebook and Twitter accounts. The two boys, Cole and Erik, start each morning with text messages, video games and Facebook.

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Economy Watch

Shut Out at Home, American Seek Opportunity in China

Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home.

What are we paying these people for?
Where did that bank bailout go? Watchdogs aren’t sure

Despite a new oversight panel, a new special inspector general, the existing Government Accountability Office and eight other inspectors general, those charged with minding the store say they don’t have all the weapons they need. Ten months into the Troubled Asset Relief Program, some members of Congress say that some oversight of bailout dollars has been so lacking that it’s essentially worthless.

AIG’s Liddy Heads Toward Retirement With ‘$1, a Few Bruises’

American International Group Inc.’s former Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy, who returned the bailed-out insurer to profitability, didn’t know what he was getting into when he joined the firm, he wrote to employees.

“Truth be told, I had no idea what I was in for when I accepted this assignment, but I am glad that I came,” Liddy said in a letter dated Aug. 7. “It hasn’t been easy, and goodness knows, it hasn’t been pretty.”

The math behind the likely jobless recovery

In modern economy, industries vanish and it takes time to replace them

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Op-ed Columns

These Baseline Scenario guys are very smart
Like Your Health Insurance? Maybe You Shouldn’t. (By Simon Johnson and James Kwak)

If we fail to reform our health care system this year, a major reason will be that a majority of Americans are satisfied with their health coverage and believe that reform could hurt them. According to a recent (unscientific) Consumer Reports survey, 64 percent of readers are satisfied with their plans — down from 67 percent in 2007, but still a clear majority. A recent New York Times poll found that 59 percent of Americans do not think that health-care reform will benefit them personally; 69 percent are concerned that reform could harm the quality of their own care and 68 percent are concerned that it could limit their access to treatment.

This is deeply misleading, for two reasons. First, what does it mean to say that you are satisfied with your health insurance? Consider homeowner’s insurance. Until you need it — your house burns down — you have no way of judging its quality. The same goes for health coverage; until you have a serious illness, the kind where your plan’s limits and exclusions may kick in, how do you know if your health coverage is any good?

As more U.S. troops arrive, is Afghan war worth it? (By Lee Hamilton)

Tens of thousands more American troops are en route, adding to the approximately 90,000 troops, both U.S. and allied, already on the ground. The U.S. military leadership likely will request more troops in the months ahead. President Barack Obama will have to make a crucial decision on the future of a conflict that has become his war.

I think Prof Blinder was one of the first to push the “C4C” idea.
Stay the Stimulus Course (By Prof Alan Blinder)

Apparently not bothered by facts, some congressional Republicans are already claiming that President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package has failed and are even advocating that some of the remaining scheduled steps in the legislation be canceled.

In medicine, that would be malpractice. In politics, it’s demagoguery. In reality, we need to stay the course.

Health Reform’s Hearing Problem (By Danielle Allen)

Both Sides Are Deaf to the Real Debate About Consequences

Aren’t we actually moving in the opposite direction?
A Century-Old Principle: Keep Corporate Money Out of Elections

The founders were wary of corporate influence on politics — and their rhetoric sometimes got pretty heated. In an 1816 letter, Thomas Jefferson declared his hope to “crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”

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Around The World

Myanmar court convicts Nobel laureate Suu Kyi

Who knew the wrong translation could be unfunny?
Lost in Translation: Clinton Says She, Not Bill, is the Secretary of State

Apparently the translator made a mistake and the student had wanted to know what President Obama thought of the deal. A State Department official tells ABC News the student went up to Clinton after the event and told her he was misquoted.

Mission accomplished.
Despite bombings, Iraq confident it can maintain security

A series of bombings in Baghdad and Mosul on Monday killed at least 49 people and wounded more than 230 in the latest attack since the June 30 pullout of US combat troops from Iraqi cities.

The explosions were the latest in a series of attacks on Shiite targets that officials fear could spark retaliation, setting off a cycle of sectarian violence that could unravel security gains made under US control.

What is it with these guys who never seem to die?
Militant commander resurfaces to rebut official claims of his death

A senior Taliban commander who the Pakistani government believed was dead suddenly resurfaced today, sowing further confusion about the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, days after Baitullah Mehsud’s apparent assassination.

New Momentum — but No Clear Goal — for Iran’s Street Protests

In recent days, despite the regime’s heavy-handed efforts to stifle the resistance, public demonstrations have become more decentralized and frequent as protesters become increasingly bold and defiant. This shift in mood — from despondency in late June after the Basij fired on protesters following the June 12 presidential election, to a renewed sense of optimism — signals that the vocal opposition movement will not be going away anytime soon.

Women continue to pay a very high price in crisis.
Congo’s Rape Epidemic Worsens During U.S.-Backed Military Operation

For the women of eastern Congo, a U.S.-backed Congolese military operation meant to save them from abusive rebels has turned into a nightmare of its own.

An already staggering epidemic of rape has become markedly worse since the January deployment of tens of thousands of poorly trained, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, with people in front-line villages such as this one saying the soldiers are not so much hunting rebels as hunting women.

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From The History Files

Donald Versus Hitler: Walt Disney and the Art of WWII Propaganda

During World War II, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse weren’t just about entertainment. Film studios used animated characters to spread propaganda and educate Americans about their enemies. And the animators themselves were employed to make insignia for military units and equipment.

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From The World Of Science

I think I have a perfectly symmetrical face. How come I’m losing my marbles? Is it the health-care debate or is something else happening?
Losing your mind? The answer is in the mirror

Although the connection between a symmetrical face and cognitive ability may seem surprising, scientists believe that it could be explained by the idea that a good set of genes for facial symmetry may be linked with an equally good set of genes for brain preservation.

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