The US continues to hold one child soldier while tolerating the creation of others.

Krugman: “The economy, weighed down by the debt that households ran up during the Bush-era bubble, is in dire straits; deflation, not inflation, is the clear and present danger. And it’s not at all clear that the Fed has the tools to head off this danger. Right now we very much need active policies on the part of the federal government to get us out of our economic trap.”

Hard to believe Halliburton manages to not screw up something once in a while.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra — Jump, Jive, An’ Wail.

The subject of tonight’s Late Night post is: Hurt. I hope none of you are hurting tonight.

The number of contests up in the air continues to grow: As a result of new polling, I’m adding two close races to the list, FL-25 and KY-03.

Several other races have also been updated to reflect new information. Overall, the updates are a mixed bag, but, on net, I would say today’s news is slightly positive for Democrats.

I had the opportunity to speak with Kamala Harris, the San Francisco District Attorney and the nominee for Attorney General in California. She is in a toss-up race with LA District Attorney Steve Cooley, the Republican. Recently, an outside attack group funded by multinational corporations swooped in with a million dollars in ads against Harris in the closing days (a much smaller ad buy has come in on her behalf). Clearly, big business has put a target on her back. “If you look at the facts, there’s a belief that Cooley will be a firewall for tobacco, oil and insurance companies,” Harris said. “And the truth hurts.”

On the day I spoke with her, Harris released a detailed Homeowner Relief and Protection Plan, which would include new anti-predatory lending laws carried into the legislature, including a mandate for foreclosure prevention counseling at the outset for prospective homebuyers. In addition, Harris would create a “strike force” to expand the investigation of fraudulent foreclosures, and appoint a “Foreclosure Oversight Czar” that would force quarterly audits on mortgage lenders to ensure compliance with state consumer protection laws.

Both Felix Salmon and DDay are arguing that if the banks lower principal on some unspecified set of loans, it’ll fix the “mortgage mess.” Now, I agree that loan modifications are one of the things we ought to strive for to solve a number of our problems. But I’ve got questions about what they’re proposing.

I want to focus in on Damon Silvers. He’s the director of policy and Special Counsel for the AFL-CIO, and a member of the panel. And his performance yesterday was remarkable. “We are faced with a choice here,” Silvers closed. “We can either have a rational resolution to the foreclosure crisis or we can preserve the capital structure of the banks. We can’t do both.”

At this very moment, we’re going to great lengths in Gitmo to villainize Omar Khadr, at least partly to dismiss all the criticism about trying a child soldier (for a crime that is not a crime). It’s as if those involved are trying to convince themselves that their war on terror trumps international norms of decency.

And even as we’re doing that, the President is taking affirmative steps to make it more likely that another boy, like Khadr, will be put in the same situation as him, attacked for following the orders of the adults around him.