This and That and Beyond

It seems that the Defense Department can't account for $8.7 billion in Iraq for the years 2004-2007. This is more than the entire national secruity budget of Iran--or, maybe then, it actually pays for the Iran defense budget. It is also close to all the funds for pro-democracy programs around the globe by the United States.

Wikileaks has 19,000 more files to unload on the Afghanistan War and have over 150,000 on the Iraq War. My take on the document dump is that it is an accurate portrayal of war, war being waged in our names. There is no sense to sanitize the documents. It's all there--friendly fire,civilian casualties, black ops, a Delta Force assassination team, an ally Pakistan funding the Taliban. The lack of interest in all this here in Washington is amazing. Nothing really new. Ho Hum, this doesn't affect policy or any considerations about the worthiness of the war. Al Jezeera released yesterday footage of our Special Forces trying to go on patrol while their Afghan counter-parts were hitting the bong. Our Special Forces complained that these guys couldn't keep silent but kept giggling when out on patrol. The good news is that we have one more year and it's time to wrap it up. With these leaks and others, it's hard to imagine that the Pentagon can blackmail President Obama in extending the exit dates.

On another sorry note, Mike Love of the Beach Boys announced that there will be no reunion concert for their 50th Anniversary in 2011.

On an even sorrier note, Joni Mitchell suffers from Morgellon disease, which has forced her into seclusion and made her abandon her projects. This is what she said about her condition:"Fibres in a variety of colours protrude out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm: they cannot be forensically identified as animal,vegetable or mineral. Morgellons is a slow, unpredictable killer, a terrorist disease: it will blow up one of your organs, leaving you in bed for a year."

ELECTION MAYHEM

The most covered candidate for the 2010 mid-terms is American hero Alvin Greene, the Democratic candidate for Senate in South Carolina. The unemployed vet inspired a bobble-head at a minor league team and a campaign song "Alvin Greene-He's On The Scene."

John McCain has already spent $16 million in his primary fight with J.D. Hayworth--about 5% of what he spent in the whole presidential election.

Tom Tancredo is running for the Governor of Colorado on the American Constitution Party.

Normally, a mid-year election would provide the opposition party with the ammunition. But this year, Democrats have a target-rich environment and the hits keep coming. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is having a field day going after Rand Paul, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Roy Blunt in Missouri and Linda McMahon in Connecticut. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. The campaign basically says that Republicans will do anything to make President Obama fail but American will pay the price. On the issue side, the DSCC is going after Republicans for opposing: the Jobs Bill, Stopping Corporate Money in Election, Wall Street Reform, Health Care Reform, and the Stimulus Package. The DNC has launched ads on the Republican Tea Party, linking the extreme positions of the teabaggers with the Republicans. And wait until you see it when Republicans try to block the middle class tax break.

For all the theater of people running around with teabags on their head and screaming about Obama as Hitler, it's actually good to see Democrats not fall into their old pacifism when the dirty tricks come. I've worried and still do that in this economic climate the brownshirts might pull out some victories. But with only 99 days to the election, it seems the voters may not be responding to ugly this year as much as the media would like you to believe.

Jack Conway has taken a lead over Rand Paul in the latest poll in Kentucky.
Barbara Boxer has a 49-40 lead over Carly Fiorina and voters prefer her hair to Fiorina. But the key here is that Boxer has a 57-30 lead among moderates.
Governor Moonbeam, who seems to be comatose in his campaign, has a 46-40 lead over Meg Whitman. Here again moderates favor Brown 47-31. California voters are repulsed by Whitman's self-financed campaign and her approval rating is at 30 and her disapproval is at 50, which nowadays is fatal.
Kelly Ayotte,a Republican running for Senate in New hampshire for Judd Gregg's seat, had a large lead over Democrat David Hodes for months. With Sarah Palin's endorsement, she now leads by only 45 to 42. 51% of New Hampshire voters said they are less likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Palin.

This year has had it's share of outrages but the Republican race in Delaware takes the cake for me. This was an automatic Republican pick-up. Mike Castle, former governor and current representative, had a large lead over Chris Coons, the Democrat. Mike is a moderate conservative, who is a responsible Republican. But that's the problem. Teabagger Christine O'Donnell is challenging Castle because Castle is "a liberal establishment Republican". The Concerned Women of America have now endorsed O'Donnell because Castle is pro-choice, voted in favor of hate crime legislation, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. They call Castle "the second coming of Dede Scozzafona", who was forced to withdrew from the race in upstate New York, thereby letting the Democrats win. The National Right to Work group is scheduled to endorse O'Donnell this week. A reminder--Barack Obama's approval rating in Delaware is in the high 60s and the Democrats now represent the largest voting bloc. This is not the Delaware of Pierre DuPont. So move this seat from Automatic Republican to Toss-up.

Pew and the National Journal conducted a poll on the economy and the tax issue. 46% of Americans want to stay with Obama's plans and only 29% support George W's policies, which are now embraced by the Republican leadership. 30% want to keep all the tax cuts in place; 27% want the tax cuts for the wealthy repealed; and 31% want them all repealed. The key here are the demographics for the 65+ and the 55+, which would tend to favor Republicans. More in these two groups want to keep the tax cuts for the wealthy, but still this is a minority position. If the Democrats can move the tax issue, they will have boxed the Republicans in.

State and Local Government

The Republican obstruction of the jobs bill, which was to bail out state and local government, will produce a catastrophe. Cities and States have already cut 200,000 jobs and now they are scheduled to cut 500,000 more jobs this year because relief is not forthcoming. Put it in perspective, muncipal government represents 13% of our GDP. This is sort of like the GOP resistance to the bailout of the auto industry, which put 17% of our economy at risk. 25 states have already requested more Federal assistance on Medicaid, which faces a $84 billion shortfall. This too was stopped by the GOP.

Apropos yesterday's post on the middle class, Michael Lind yesterday on Salon had a piece about whether the American people are obsolete. From today's Republican platform, you would have to think the answer is in the affirmative.