I’d like to follow up on what Jane said this morning. I’ve just got four questions for you.

Obama has declared that he has the authority under the 2001 AUMF to indefinitely hold anyone “if it is necessary to protect against a significant threat to the security of the United States.”

American core principles apparently aren’t so important when the regime being reformed houses the Fifth Fleet and has Saudi neighbors, themselves afraid of potential protests.

on the Republican side, another state Senator has stressed his willingness to be flexible. As you know, Republicans control the Senate 19-14, so a shift of only three on this issue would change the balance of power. Sen. Dale Schultz (R) has already called for compromise and basically said he’d oppose the bill. Now we have Sen. Rob Cowles.

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We’re arguing about, and could go into a government shutdown over, a grand total of $20 billion in cuts in a $3.7 trillion budget. That’s the difference between the $10 billion proposed by Democrats and the White House, and the $30 billion that Shimkus puts out there.

The problem is that Democrats have been the party bending in these negotiations for so long. In the process, they have given up on their entire economic argument.

• Should the U.S. really determine Libya’s future?
• Ditto, NATO.
• In Wisconsin, a stalemate.
• Meet the new Ambassador to China.
• Fact-checking Charlie Sheen.
• What Atrios said.

I guess the idea of bombing people is a real knee slapper for the “serious” people.

Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are

I get it, I do. People have exploited those they considered beneath them since the beginning of time. It’s only recently that we’ve begun to tell ourselves we ought to like it and help them to do it, in the hopes we may someday be the exploiters. I don’t know when that became an admirable thing to be, but it seems that’s the motivation: Side with billionaires because someday you’ll be a billionaire and then you’ll want to keep all your money instead of giving it to the government so they can teach unwashed poles like you to read and patrol the filthy streets where you live in your hovel.