The Hollywood Liberal

Brit Warns Against Leaving Afghanistan
Britain’s foreign secretary visited Kabul this week and had a stark warning for opponents of the NATO effort in Afghanistan: The Afghan government could fall apart within weeks of a coalition pullout, David Miliband said. The Guardian: The Afghan government could fall within weeks if Nato pulled out troops now, David Miliband warned today as he urged British opponents of the war to give the fight to rebuild the country more time. In an interview with the Guardian at the end of a visit to Kabul for the presidential inauguration of Hamid Karzai, the foreign secretary said: “If international forces leave, you can choose a time – five minutes, 24 hours or seven days – but the insurgent forces will overrun those forces that are prepared to put up resistance and we would be back to square one.” At the end of a day spent visiting British troops and officials at the headquarters of the international military effort, Miliband said that Afghans were “sad that they need anyone, but they are passionate that my goodness they do – because if we weren’t here their country would be rolled over”. Read more READ THE WHOLE ITEM

Britain’s foreign secretary visited Kabul this week and had a stark warning for opponents of the NATO effort in Afghanistan: The Afghan government could fall apart within weeks of a coalition pullout, David Miliband said.

The Guardian:

The Afghan government could fall within weeks if Nato pulled out troops now, David Miliband warned today as he urged British opponents of the war to give the fight to rebuild the country more time.

In an interview with the Guardian at the end of a visit to Kabul for the presidential inauguration of Hamid Karzai, the foreign secretary said: “If international forces leave, you can choose a time – five minutes, 24 hours or seven days – but the insurgent forces will overrun those forces that are prepared to put up resistance and we would be back to square one.”

At the end of a day spent visiting British troops and officials at the headquarters of the international military effort, Miliband said that Afghans were “sad that they need anyone, but they are passionate that my goodness they do – because if we weren’t here their country would be rolled over”.

Read more

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

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Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup
Misrepresenting what I said during an appearance on Countdown this week, NewsBusters claims that I’m trying to deny Glenn Beck his “constitutionally protected free speech.” Wrong. What I said is that words have tremendous power — they can inspire and they can incite. There’s a reason you can’t shout “fire” in a crowded theater. But even though Glenn Beck is shouting “fire” in a crowded, anxious country, I specifically said that the right response to his steady stream of lies, hate, and race-baiting — all served up with a not-very-subtle undercurrent of violence — is to put unrelenting pressure on his advertisers and his bosses. Pressure works. CNN dropped Lou Dobbs. I’m actually of two minds when it comes to Beck. Part of me resents spending even a second of my life thinking about him. But part of me recognizes that he’s too dangerous to ignore.

Linda Buzzell: Integrating the Best Ideas from Left and Right
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Mitchell Bard: It’s Too Early to Celebrate the Senate Health Care Vote
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From the November 21 edition of Fox News’ The Journal Editorial Report:

FREEMAN: $800 billion is a lot of money. The cost is huge, and that’s probably an underestimate. But, you know, there’s also that little detail that there hasn’t been any warming since 1998, so.

STUART VARNEY (host): But what really killed it here? Was it economics, was it the cost that killed it, or something else?

FREEMAN: Well, what is the argument for it? If you’re saying this is a massive cost, even bigger than this crazy stimulus, even bigger than the TARP, and by the way, there’s no proof that this is happening as a result of man’s activities, in fact, lately, it’s not even happening anymore. So it basically has no premise right now.

Fact: Climate scientists reject conservative claim that recent global average temperatures indicate global warming has stopped

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Fact: Climate experts overwhelmingly believe global warming caused by “man’s activities”

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Historic health care legislation moves forward for debate in the Senate.
The Senate voted along party lines tonight to avoid a GOP filibuster and move forward with debate on historic health care legislation. The final vote was 60-39, with Ohio Republican George Voinovich not voting. The AP reports that the “spectator galleries were full for the unusual Saturday night showdown, and applause broke out briefly when […]

The Senate voted along party lines tonight to avoid a GOP filibuster and move forward with debate on historic health care legislation. The final vote was 60-39, with Ohio Republican George Voinovich not voting. The AP reports that the “spectator galleries were full for the unusual Saturday night showdown, and applause broke out briefly when the vote was announced. In a measure of the significance of the moment, senators sat quietly in their seats, standing only when they were called upon to vote.” Full debate will begin after Thanksgiving.

Immediately after the vote, the White House put out a statement saying, “The President is gratified that the Senate has acted to begin consideration of health insurance reform legislation.” RNC Chairman Michael Steele complained that “a number of moderate Democrats sacrificed their principles to give Harry Reid a victory that brings America dangerously closer to having a government-run health care system.” Igor Volsky has been following tonight’s debate over on the Wonk Room.

Coal-Fueled Chamber Of Commerce Demands Lawmakers Defeat Health Reform In Order To ?Stop? Clean Energy Bill
Corporate front groups and large business trade associations are funneling their resources into defeating health reform. Even though health reform will lower costs for small businesses and boost worker productivity economy-wide, it appears that corporate entities influenced by major polluters are hoping that the defeat of health care legislation will slow President Obama’s agenda and […]

Corporate front groups and large business trade associations are funneling their resources into defeating health reform. Even though health reform will lower costs for small businesses and boost worker productivity economy-wide, it appears that corporate entities influenced by major polluters are hoping that the defeat of health care legislation will slow President Obama’s agenda and derail their true enemy: clean energy reform.

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which is largely backed by the coal industry, candidly revealed this strategy in a letter released today to Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Robert Byrd (D-WV). The Chamber of Commerce demanded that the senators use “their clout and seniority” to obstruct the health reform debate until cap and trade legislation is taken off the table and the EPA is barred from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. As Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette noted, Rockefeller has already rejected a similar proposal of blocking health reform unless the EPA stops reviewing mountaintop removal permits. The coal lobby has also pressured West Virginia state legislators to pass resolutions opposing clean energy reform.

The coal industry’s selfish push to block health reform displays how little it cares about West Virginia and the communities where coal is burned for energy. Not only do 19 percent of West Virginians lack health insurance, but coal is literally killing people:

– The American Lung Association reports that there are 24,000 premature deaths every year due to coal power plant pollution. In addition, the ALA research estimates that coal pollution causes over 550,000 asthma attacks, 38,000 heart attacks and 12,000 hospital admissions.

– A report by Physicians for Social Responsibility found that coal combustion releases mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other substances known to be hazardous to human health. These coal pollutants are associated with increased congestive heart failure, lung cancer, infant mortality, stunted lung development, and Ischemic stroke, among other diseases.

The national Chamber of Commerce is also fighting health reform tooth and nail. Like the West Virginia Chamber, the U.S. Chamber is dominated by coal and polluter interests and denies the science underpinning climate change. The U.S. Chamber’s extreme approached forced pro-clean energy companies Apple, Levi Strauss & Company, Mohawk Paper and the utilities Pacific Gas and Electric, Exelon and PNM Resources to resign from the Chamber. By killing both clean energy and health reform, U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue may be hoping to protect his own wallet. Donohue sits on the board of a major coal industry player, Union Pacific.

Indeed, one of the most powerful corporate front groups, Americans for Prosperity, is focusing its efforts on defeating health reform. Although AFP is backed by oil industry giant David Koch, his ultimate goal of stopping clean energy appears to begin with stopping health reform.

The talk shows
Guests to be interviewed Sunday on major television talk shows:

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Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard
Increase Font SizePrinter-FriendlyEmail a FriendRespond to this article Back in February, President Obama met with a group of CEOs in the White House, seeking their support for his economic stimulus package. One of his chief targets was Jim Owens, the head of Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois. The day after the session in Washington, the president flew to Peoria to speak at the Caterpillar factory and took Owens and newly elected Republican representative Aaron Schock, the youngest member of Congress at 28, with him.Aboard Air Force One, Obama chatted amiably with Owens and Schock. Owens…

The Coming Deficit Disaster
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Wall Street Journal
President Barack Obama took office promising to lead from the center and solve big problems. He has exerted enormous political energy attempting to reform the nation's health-care system. But the biggest economic problem facing the nation is not health care. It's the deficit. Recently, the White House signaled that it will get serious about reducing the deficit next year"”after it locks into place massive new health-care entitlements. This is a recipe for disaster, as it will create a new appetite for increased spending and yet another powerful interest group to…

The Day Global Warming Stood Still