Don't confuse them with facts
To listen to talk radio, to watch TV pundits, to read a newspaper's online message board, is to realize that increasingly, we are a people estranged from critical thinking, divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth. We admit no ideas that do not confirm us, hear no voices that do not echo us, sift out all information that does not validate what we wish to believe.

Fear, With Good Reason
I believe some deep-seated part of our national consciousness is aware there will be consequences for what we've done, and continue to do. The wars, and kidnappings, and illegal imprisonment, and off-the-mark Predator strikes, and, most of all, torture -- we sense a reckoning for all this, a conflagration waiting to engulf the combustible materials we insist on piling recklessly, relentlessly higher. Our tactics worsen the danger. The worse the danger, the more scared we get. The more scared we get, the less capable we are of rational policies. As our rationality deserts us, we embrace more tightly primitive tactics. And the more primitive we become, the worse we make the danger. And so on.

‘Afghan Insurgency Can Sustain Itself Indefinitely’: Top U.S. Intel Officer
The Taliban not only has the “momentum” after the most successful year in its campaign against the United States and the Kabul government. “The Afghan insurgency can sustain itself indefinitely,” according to a briefing from Major General Michael Flynn, the top U.S. intelligence officer in the country. “The Taliban retains [the] required partnerships to sustain support, fuel legitimacy and bolster capacity.”
And if that isn’t enough, Flynn also warns that “time is running out” for the American-led International Security Assistance Force. “Regional instability is rapidly increasing and getting worse,” the report says.
The “loosely organized” Taliban is “growing more cohesive” and “increasingly effective.” The insurgents now have their own “governors” installed in 33 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. And the “strength and ability of [that] shadow governance increasing,” according to the presentation. The Taliban’s “organizational capabilities and operational reach are qualitatively and geographically expanding.”

Now I’m Really Getting Pissed Off
Like any good progressive, I've gone from admiration to hope to disappointment to anger when it comes to this president. Now I'm fast getting to rage.

The Strange Consensus on Obama's Nobel Address
by Glenn Greenwald
Much of the liberal praise for Obama's speech yesterday focused on how eloquent, sophisticated, nuanced, complex, philosophical, contemplative and intellectual it was. And, looked at a certain way, it was all of those things -- like so many Obama speeches are. After eight years of enduring a President who spoke in simplistic Manichean imperatives and bullying decrees, many liberals are understandably joyous over having a President who uses their language and the rhetorical approach that resonates with them.
But that's the real danger. Obama puts a pretty, intellectual, liberal face on some ugly and decidedly illiberal polices.

Dubai’s financial health sends shock waves to world markets
European, Asian and Latinamerican shares have been hit by concerns over Dubai’s financial health, after a government-owned company asked for an extension on repaying its debts.
"It does come off as a little bit of a surprise," said UBS Bank analyst Saud Masoud.

Memo to Obama:
"For God Sakes, strap on a pair and get to it"
By Mike Whitney
November 08, 2009
Wall Street is finally beginning to grasp that US consumers are busted and won't be able to provide sufficient demand to grow the economy. That's why policymakers are pushing China and India to "develop their domestic markets" to take up the slack in supply. It's another pipedream. Americans consumed nearly $9 trillion last year while China's consumers gobbled a mere $1.2 trillion and India about $650 billion. No one is going to replace the US consumer. The only way forward is government jobs programs, higher taxes for the rich, and price of living increases for workers across the board. A strong economy requires strong demand, that means aggressive redistribution policies that put more money in the hands of people who will spend it---workers. It's not rocket science.