Those cheap, nasty Americans.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/11/are_americans_cheap.html

According to the article, Americans gave $260billion to charity last year, $900 per household, 7 times what Germans give and 14 times what Italians give, so much for the "Cheap Americans" line.
Follow the…

Re: Lebanon

Here is a link to an article in The UK Times which says basically the same thing as the World Tribune article. You could find many such articles, as what both articles say is basically the consensus view as to what has happened in Lebanon.

As I said,…

Hizbullah on the move after Gemayel assassination

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2454061.982638889.html

Anyone who thinks the BBC is not biased had better open their eyes, even the BBC themselves have enough self awareness to know that they are biased!!:…

Lovely people. So much for democracy and the will of the people, Iran and Syria want to effectively take over the Lebanese…

Now here is an interesting article on Iran. Can't vouch for its accuracy, but some of the suporting evidence (levels of youth unemployment and drug addiction) are well known.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK21Ak01.html

I don't understand why anyone would take that bet.

No I agree...50,000,000 Americans took that bet on Bush and 200,000/ 300,000 / 600,000 ..you chose.. the numbers are petty ugly either way...Iraqis are dead now with god knows how many to come. All based on a series of…

I do make an effort to read things that don't fit my view of the world (I'm currently reading 'The War of the World' by conservative historian Niall Ferguson. I read David Farrars blog every day).

What I don't read is brainless partisan hackery that sounds like it…

That link you dismissed has some quotes from soldiers on the ground in Iraq, I suspect they might know a…

While the Democrats push for America’s complete surrender to Al Qaeda in Iraq . . .

Have to admit I stopped reading at about that point.

Post WWII, the Yanks recognized that they had screwed up by being isolationist in the 1930s. Truman's containment policy toward the Soviet Union was a result of that understanding.

Back on…

But the funniest bit is "And please don't bring up appeasement of Hitler, your nation didn't exactly take a stand there." Yeah, those evil Americans, what did they do to oppose Hitler? Maybe a visit to the beaches of Normandy would be of benefit to some.

Yes – thank goodness…

And I'm not unaware of the American (and Allied) effort in Normandy but that was not the period James was talking…

But the funniest bit is "And please don't bring up…

AFP CIA analysis finds no Iranian nuclear weapons drive: report

19 November 2006

WASHINGTON – A classified draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by the White House, a top US investigative reporter…

Firstly "To me it comes to the answer to 2 questions: does a regime have the intent to do harm and, does that regime have the capability to do harm? If the answer to those 2 questions is,…

Surely the question is "what can we do to stop Iran getting the bomb?" Maybe not alot but it depends mostly on what the clerics…

It seems to me stopping these regimes from getting nukes should be a very high priority for any rational person and country.

Ironically it seems to have been a very low priority for political leaders in the US and Europe. North Korea now has nukes. Iran will have them in…

Multi year, multi-lateral diplomatic efforts to try to stop crack pot regimes in North Korea and Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

because god knows the US has armed enough crackpot regimes over the years, turns a blind eye to the military dictator armed with nukes in Pakistan and is actively…

Glad to help remove the fog for you, shouldn't be too hard. Some quick stats right off the top of my head before I go home tonight:

US citizens

Unemployment at 4.4%, below the 20 year historical average, lower than during almost all of the 1990s, except right at…

Even the New York Times gets in on the act and gives her a raspberry ... For the NYT to bash the first woman Dem Speaker before she has even taken over, now that has to be quite an achievement!!

It most certainly does not bode…

Not a good start for Nancy. She got her ass handed to her by her own caucus!!

By Howard Fineman, who is a very middle of the road reporter for…

Re: FEMA

We have been disagreeing on which organization was responsible for disaster preparation and response in relation to Katrina. You say FEMA and I say local and state Govt.

The link below is to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

http://hsgac.senate.gov/_files/Katrina/ExecSum.pdf

Here is what is stated regarding…

Did you note that your Times Pic article about levee maintenance etc. is dated June 8, 2004. That would be 15…

I have never heard or read anywhere that insufficient or incorrect maintenance had any bearing on the levee failures.

When the very report you very pompously and condescendingly cited:

Now I declare (on…

Final Report of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Taskforce

ARRRGGGHHH!!! Is that cited as a major factor or cause? NO!!!

An "additional negative factor"…

Final Report of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Taskforce

Other factors such as the CSX closure gate not functioning and the maintained condition of the levees were additional negative factors in the performance of the system.

– Final Report of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Taskforce

I am sure there are a range of estimates, all…

This is torture. Did you note that your Times Pic article about levee maintenance etc. is dated June 8, 2004. That would be 15 months BEFORE Katrina. Since when do articles written 15 months before an event constitute an authorative description of what caused the event?

Please visit the…

Only two of them, Waldron and Pombo,
were given the boot...

Ah yes, the system works again.

Craig Y.

if your drunk husband leaves your house and wanders around punching other people then we have a right to criticise not only his drunkenness but the root causes of such

Damn right....

But pfffft, whatever. I give up too. You're a persistent bugger, I'll give you that.

You have to admire his willingness to defend the administration, irrespective of mere facts and figures.

FEMA is not responsible for initial disaster response, in New Orleans or anywhere else.

I actually laughed out loud when I read this. FEMA, the *Federal Emergency Management Agency*, when asked before landfall by the governer of the state to take over the disaster response, isn't actually responsible for it?…

FEMA is not responsible for initial disaster response, in New Orleans or anywhere else. Local and state authorities are. FEMA has 2600 employees in D.C and another 4000 available to call up for disaster response (from FEMA's website). So with this number of people FEMA is supposed to be…

Why, regardless of their political persuasion, do so many residents of the USA persist in getting all riled up when others criticise their government?

'My husbands a loser, a gambler and a drunk.'
'He sure is.'
'How dare you say that? That's my husband you're talking about!'

I think that…

Here's some rebuttal for you, in double-quick time: *FEMA* was meant to be in charge of the disaster recovery, *not* state and local…

"[Americans] are regularly told by politicians and the…

Indeed, the US govt has spent all that money. Some of it even in good faith.

But from my point of view (and I've always tried to be as objective as possible, unlike some) the vast majority of US spending since WWII has been to consolidate some form of…

A Repub Congressman (Foley) hitting on a teenage page or a Congressman taking a bribe or pork barreling for their home district have nothing to do with the White House or its polices.

If a majority of the Republican-led Congress had not supported the White House in its more…

Development? The US Govt and citizens…

Why don’t you apply a modicum of commonsense yourself and listen to and consider the thoughts of those that actually live in the…

I said a few other things as well. Please don't use my words to back up your blinkered position.

Would you like to see the US play any suit of altruistic multi-lateral role in the development of other nations and/or global security? Even if it affected the standard of…

The US government spending and the deficit has ballooned under Bush. The US owes China billions in foreign currency. A lot of traditional conservatives are furious at Bush for betraying his roots in…

C.

You're entitled to your opinion but at least apply a modicum of reason.

You ignore the numurous infractions of the adminstration against your freedoms and liberties or the cronyism of your man-child president and you extrapolate that most of the Democratic leadership is stupid from the ruminations of a…

You might have a point – though the sheer genius with which homo Americanus politicius can hold sincerely believe six mutually contradictory positions on any issue before breakfast makes me sceptical.

I think I can speak for a few of us here that we don't hold out a huge amount of hope that the Dems will be the "saviours". For fucks sake, we don't want saviours, we want rational, responsible, accountable types who will step back from the brink and…

http://www.cnn.com/

Dem's take both the House and the Senate.

The sky won't fall tomorrow.

I'll still be watching Stewart and Colbert to make sense of it all.

Jesus is probably still weeping.

But it is amusing to listen to Bush concede that he had a "thoughtful conversation" with…

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=110906D

It is hard to believe that…

don't feel the trolls no matter how great the provocation

Hooray for moderated forums.

Things are getting out of hand on DPF.. David himself is always pretty good – but some of the comments are getting outlandish.

It's just not cricket.

Well, I'm (slowly) learning the great wisdom of the net-saying, "don't feel the trolls no matter how great the provocation". Food for thought, ay? Of course, there's always the option of turning your eyeballs elsewhere Any blog that has comments but can introduce an 'ignore user' feature would get…

if you could add a feature to let me erase big sections of kiwiblog,

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2006/11/us_election_update.html#comments

feel free to add that one in.

My gut response after 9/11 was that we should have brought down the apocalypse on the whole moslem world: I'd have nuked Mecca. Medina. Qom. Riyadh. Baghdad. Teheran. Damascus. I'd have wiped the palestinians from the face of the earth, and cut through Lebanon like…

Vile as Rick Santorum was, pardon my scepticism as to whether Bob Casey is going to give social libertarians -…

Ooops....beaten by David by 30 mins.....

Heh. Doubt that'll happen very often.

Nice to see the lawyers may not be needed to get a result.

Democrats Take Control of the Senate

The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but…

As I said many posts ago it explains a lot about agricultural subsidies, pork barrel politics, the mythologising of "how the west was won (tm)" and why…

James Webb has defeated incumbent George Allen in Virginia, giving the Democratic Party control of the Senate, the Associated Press and NBC are reporting....

The Associated Press contacted election officials in all 134 localities where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday.…

Exactly which third of the Senate is up for reelection in any given cycle also has a direct impact on this number.

It now falls to the Democrats to try and fix things, and I guess the hard work begins today. There is already a long list of things to do – among them…

Because the red states are smaller and because every state gets 2 senators it follows that the Senate is not at all proportional.

E.G.
Illinois, NewYork and California.. = 6 senators
Wyoming, Nevada, Utah = 6 senators

However there are lots of republicans in New York…

i do actually speak english! i just don't proof read all that well.

don't forget that the senate is not intended to be proportional to population. and deliberately so, as far as i recall.

Via Brad Delong the actual scope of the Democrat's'victory in the Senate. Or, at least, victory in the popular vote.

Holy crap. I was wondering about that very thing last night, but I genuinely didn't realise the margin was that big.

Danielle, do you have anything useful or intelligent to add to the discussion? If you don't agree with my points, rebut them.

I'm sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. I don't believe that there is any real point in rebutting Republican talking points, because the way their 'debates' are framed is…

Via Brad Delong the actual scope fo the Democrat's victory in the Senate. Or, at least, victory in the popular vote.

One way to look at last night's election is that the implicit gerrymandering of the Senate and the…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum

...but unfortunately, she's still there...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Musgrave

...ah well, at least Rumsfeld is toast.

Craig Y

Look at California, on the face of things they still have…

A copule…

In brief remarks, Rumsfeld described the Iraq conflict as a "little understood, unfamiliar war" that is "complex for people to comprehend".

I guess the words "I got us into this stupid…

The Republicans in Congress decided from the outset that their future would be inextricably tied to George Bush and his policies. It has become this sad session of members sitting down and drinking Kool-Aid delivered by Karl Rove. Congress became a mere extension of the White House."…

What about the UK plane plot that was uncovered a few months back? There was a plot to blow up the Brooklyn bridge in 2002 or 2003 that was uncovered due to intelligence sharing enabled by the Patriot Act.

Well that was the Brits. And because they never suffered from…

I'm not going to argue with you on that score, but I very much doubt the next Congress is going to be substantively as opposed to rhetorically different. Depending on what yardstick you move, between 80-90% of the seats contested yesterday weren't even competitive in any meaningful sense of…

Or alternatively the reason is that "freedom hating" Al Qaeda hasn't bothered attacking America because America seems to be perfectly capable of tearing apart its freedoms without any assistance required.

You're probably right. Alternatively, perhaps Osama should take the long-term view and simply invest in all those delightful US…

Occam's Razor suggests that the simple explanations tend to be the correct ones. And surely the real reason America hasn't suffered a wave of Al Qaeda attacks after 9/11 is because Al Qaeda no longer has the capability.

Or alternatively the reason is that "freedom hating" Al Qaeda hasn't…

Which leads to the conclusion that the johnny-come-lately Big Brother approach espoused by the NSA is simply egregarious over-reach by the security agencies, and is not needed for actual security.

What about the UK plane plot that was uncovered a few months back? There was a plot to…

In the past six years they have castrated the political minority

In that respect, it's worth bearing in mind that this President has had a strong enthusiasm for using delegated executive authority to bypass the Congress entirely. And that was with a quiescent body. For all the talk at this…

What dumbfounds me is the way that conservatives seem happy to overlook the abandonment of basic conservative values here. Fiscal fecklessness, pork-loaded spending bills (just check the numbers for the pork explosion in the last five years), the unprecedented intervention of lobbyists

Believe me conservatives are not…

Occam's Razor suggests that the simple explanations tend to be the correct ones. And surely the real reason America hasn't suffered a wave of Al Qaeda attacks after 9/11 is because Al Qaeda no longer has the capability.

It takes a lot of resourcing and planning to execute anything…

James' willingness to maintain his engagement is to be admired.

I agree! Holding the fort all the way from New Orleans. James, I don't want to discourage you at all – but why are you arguing with a bunch of irrelevant (to US politics) kiwis?

Apologies if I missed an…

James B, i think your comments can more effectively be conveyed if you just post some Colbert vids.

Wordy McWord, Jamie. James B. sounds as though he was born to regurgitate Republican talking points. In the last post, there's some nice not-so-subtle blaming of the Clinton administration, use of the…

Like Al says, A couple…

The Dem victory doesn't change…

Has anyone here heard of Dan Rostenkowski, the Dem chairman of the Way and Means Committee until 1994. The guy was a major league crook.
Harry Reid, about to be the Dem Majority leader in the Senate has his 4 sons…

So the loony left and the rabid right both need wee fistfuls of anti-psychotics washed down with decaf – pardon…

__Every measure of sound, accountable government (and, indeed, traditional conservative…

Slideshow of US Newspaper Front Pages

Cspan.org where you can watch Bush's press conference.

Interestingly Bush said he spoke to Rumsfeld about replacing him yesterday. He emphasised that the decision was not as a result of the election.... which is curious. Rummy looks like a sacrifice.

And one for…

Robert M. Gates was the Central Intelligence Agency's deputy director for intelligence (DDI) from 1982 to 1986. He was confirmed as the CIA's deputy director of central intelligence (DDCI) in April of 1986 and became…

I agree with Bush in this respect, the troops should get out but only after something resembling a functioning state is established.…

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10409895

could today been any sweeter...

so much for 'no cut and run' aeh?

There aint no votes to count in VA anyway. They are computer votes. VA Voting Machine Map

And yes the polls were very good. Including the exit polls with 2 minor exceptions. Not off by much in the five solid win states:

Exit poll Actual
PA 57 – 42 58…

Based on the final suite of polls, Electoral Vote predicted a 51-49 win for the Dems in the Senate – which is the probable exact final result (CNN has just called Montana for the Dems; and it's hard to see the Republicans…

The obvious result of last night's returns is the complete historical and geographical inversion of what was once the Republican Party. Nixon's cynical Southern strategy has now been played out to the nth degree – and, after a good period of…

I also doubt the various insurgents in Iraq are even aware there were mid-terms in the…

MONTANA 99% REPORTING

Tester
198,032
Burns
(Incumbent)
194,904

Thats 4000 votes that say the Democrats have won the senate.

Phew!

Well. indeed. It's one thing for Nany…

When you look at…

The biggest county in Montana Yellowstone had a problem with its votes – absentee votes were mixed in with todays – and has called for a complete recount.

At present the Montana Dem lead has fallen to 4000 votes. So all eyes are now on…

So can we say it now? That Bush is the most incompetent Republican ever?

[[http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1734563/posts|All your congress are belong to us
Well, now it's payback time. Time to take back this country from the party that had power and no idea how to use…

TPM made the good point that its actually risky for the Allen campaign to ask for a recount. The FBI is already invesigating alleged voter fraud on their part, and stretching out the electoral process for another week or two will draw further attention to it.

They're not going to…

99.71% counted...
Democrats 1 169 809
Grand Old Party 1 162 089

Montana still holding stead with ~2%lead for the Dems, so I think it's time for a beer...

Scoop has called this one now

Sorry Jesse James (if you are still here) but the Bush Haters won both houses.

Virginia may have a recount. But it will be fun.

What you gonna count George

CNN meanwhile is still confused. "We really don't know what has happened in the…

expect the next attack

this will be a big one with many casualties

which is why I moved the family away from the city
I am retiring and never setting foot in DC again

too damn dangerous now

only good news from it is President Pelosi…

This is a disgusting display of American voter ignorance.

I quite. I not going to vote again. It's time I gave up on this political bullshiat. I just hope the nuke attack comes soon. Let it be on…

I just like looking at James Carville on TV ...

I can lend you a book that explores his turbulent (as if there could be any other kind) relationship with Hunter S Thompson, including the speculation that they might actually be brothers.

Haven't been able to tear myself away from…

VA has a paperless election so will be funny watching George Allen asking for a recount.

Did we ever get the official word on what a "macaca" was?

Wasn't hallucinating...... [[http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/senate/|McCaskill is ahead in Missouri now.]

So on paper the Democrats now have both houses.

VA has a paperless election so will be funny watching George Allen asking for a recount.

(I am saving the sweet peach schnapps of House victory for later)

That means a Democratic Senate...

If this happens the Senate is a tie.... Cheney has a casting vote. And Leiberman is a snake in the grass so that means GOP victory really... by a small nose

__

What is left.

The…

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/MO/

MO is going to the wire, McCaskill seems to be catching slowly.

God knows how corrupt the US election system is.... but this is the first time that millions of people have been watching a US election for fraud.

And if you could see Scoop's ratings you would see that its already helping our readership comprehensively. Mainly seems to be people…

Now I have to go home, where there is no interweb

Looks like the Maryland result is not going to increase your readership, it's going back to the dems :-)

The early votes – absentees – are not yet counted in many cases.... early electronic are probably counted... dunno.

I expect the exit pollsters probably try to take account – though it may not be possible. In one of these races both gubernatorial candidates reccommended the use of absentees…

With 98% counted Virginia only has 7000 vote…

Amazing stuff, whoever you support.

Alistair, those exit polls are pretty suspect given all the early voting that took place, even if they do try and account for that.

VA lead is only 11,000 votes now.

And MO is favouring Democrats...only 6% counted.

Montana potentially another Dem win (according to Pollster), but counting only just started

http://www.dccc.org/results/index.html

Oddly the CNN TV coverage is only reporting 7.

So web news is still best.

Two more disctricts go Blue – 7 seats have swung, the Dems are half way to victory in the House.

Virginia is stays Red and it looks…

Senate down to 4 races

Dems have to win three and are presently losing three, Montana not reporting yet.

Actually has just started 1000 votes counted

The exit polls showed Montana, Missouri and VA going Dem hence the early euphoria. Montana…

Hamish – the Senate was *never* going to be a route for the Democrats. The demographics of Senate representation simply don't favour them.

Yes, sorry, I was referring to the House (re-reading it, it did sound a bit n00bish). It's still very close though.

Another district goes blue, this time…

Basically, each State gets 2 Senators, regardless of population. This skews representation towards the large mainly rural states and is one of the reasons behind the massive…