Headlines - Sunday November 6

He should have been given a medal for telling the truth. Instead, they fired his ass.

 

###

 

U.S. Military Official: We Are Concerned Israel Will Not Warn Us Before Iran Attack

Senior U.S. military official tells CNN U.S. 'increasingly vigilant' over military developments in Iran and Israel, says 'absolutely' concerned Israel may attack Iran nuclear facilities.

 

I'm pretty sure we've already given the okay. 

 

###

 

If the New York Times style section

were covering these protests, this latest incident would constitute a "trend":

From what I can make out, Occupy protestors tried to blockade the Koch Brothers backed conference (Americans for Prosperity) put on today in DC — blockade in the sense of keep people from leaving the convention hall. Then someone drove a car into protestors acting as this sort of human blockade.

Precisely whether this was intentional or just what happened is hard to be certain of. But the incident was at least interpreted by the protestors as hostile and intentional.

Oh yeah. Run down the peasants. Good idea.

###  

via Brian Beutler of TPM

Yup, $0.00.

The GOP plan contained about $2.2 trillion in cuts — well over the $1.2 trillion minimum required of the Super Committee by the debt limit law. That left the Republicans ample room to include many kinds of near-term growth measures, but they picked none.

You don't create jobs without growth, and the plan being pushed by the Republicans on the so-called "Super Committee" contains no measures to spur growth.

Apparently they are content with relying on the Growth Fairy to come along and leave jobs under our pillows after harsh austerity is implemented.

It seems likely that the Super Committee will never reach an agreement, and then one of two things will happen. Either the automatic triggers, which will begin to take effect in 2013, will become the law, or the Republicans will push for removing the automatic triggers to protect the Pentagon and we can all pretend the debt-ceiling deal never happened.

I'm betting on the latter scenario.

###

Republican sabotage and Florida

Steve Benen discovered a fascinating and very revealing poll out of Florida — you know, the swingiest of the swing states. It turns out, a considerable number of Floridians believe the Republicans are deliberately sabotaging the economy.

With 51 percent of voters saying that jobs and the economy are the most pressing issues in the nation today, 49 percent said they believe that the Republicans are intentionally hindering efforts to boost the economy so that President Barack Obama will not be reelected. Thirty-nine percent disagreed. As expected, most registered Democrats (70 percent) agreed that Republicans are intentionally hindering the economy and hurting Obama, but independents (52 percent) and even some Republicans (24 percent) also agreed.

29 percent of Republicans think the Republicans are sabotaging economic growth? That's remarkably honest of them. I wonder how many of those Republican voters agree with the sabotage strategy.

I still believe the Republicans ought to be held accountable for this. Maybe one of these days, we'll see Occupy The Hill. Reaganomics created this crisis, Wall Street sparked the collapse, and Republicans are exacerbating it. It's a Republican Shit Sandwich.

###

###

Borowitz: "If these are the best presidential candidates our current system produces maybe we should try a random lottery."

###

###

Booman: Wanker of the Day: Kathleen Parker

###

Virginia Republican Patricia Phillips is running against Democratic incumbent Mark Herring for the state's 33rd Senate district seat.

In a recent mailer, she tried to diminish Herring's patriotism, alleging he didn't appreciate America's military people . .

. . by mistakenly featuring a Soviet veteran of World War II. On the sailor's right hangs the "Order For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR":

On his left . .

. . the "Medal For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945." The image likely came from the Monsters and Critics website. They covered the 2008 World War II Victory Day in St. Petersburg with a group of photos, including this one:

Caption: A heavily decorated Russian World War II veteran salutes during the military parade at the Dvortsovaya Square celebrating Victory Day in St.Petersburg, 09 May 2008. On May 09 Russia celebrates the 63rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

We thank you for your lip service, Patty.

###

Jill: I'm starting to think we may have to eat the shit sandwich again after all

###

Growing Chorus Calls for Financial Transaction Taxes

###

Oklahoma typically has about 50 earthquakes a year. This year they've had 1,047. Yesterday they had one that was 5.6. 

I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with fracking.

###