This is what Dean was talking about: “The US Congress has approved free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, ending a four-year drought in the forming of new trade partnerships and giving the White House and Capitol Hill the opportunity to show they can work together to stimulate the economy and put people back to work.”

Erick Erickson, a man who’s penchant for creative thought was imprinted upon him the day he was named, recently decided to reply to #OccupyWallStreet by creating a counter-group “We are the 53%”. All based upon the kind of solid economic analysis you’d expect from a right-wing blowhard. Which makes this poll finding, all the more ironic and humorous.

Gov’t Mule — About To Rage.

The greatest value so far (and possibly in the long run as well) of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been not so much in the shaping of electoral politics — though it’s already starting to influence that somewhat — but in its shoving the Overton Window away from the far right end of the spectrum, far enough away to make talk of meaningful solutions possible, which is the first step towards making them politically viable. Putting a surtax on the rich and/or letting the Bush tax cuts finally expire was considered politically verboten as recently as a month ago. Then Occupy Wall Street got started, and suddenly surtaxes on millionaires start becoming very much discussed indeed.

There are over 250 tents encamped during the week, expect the numbers to go up on weekends when people come out as a brief vacation, an experiment in a new form of society.

Lt. Dan Choi spoke at Cal State Northridge Tuesday night for National Coming Out Day. Wow. Wow. Wow. His speech took us from the Triangle of Death in Iraq to his parents’ home in Orange County, California and back again, through his falling in love for the first time at age 27 to his split with his Southern Baptist parents; heart wrenching stories, witty asides, skillful humor and pop culture references, and more . . .

With nine percent unemployment and Americans desperate for job creation, it is unconscionable that President Obama and House Republicans would push through a trio of NAFTA-style job-killing trade agreements that even the government’s own studies show will increase the U.S. trade deficit.

The UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) has released its October 2011 report on “Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghanistan” (PDF). Ten years after the US invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime, and ostensibly dismantle the Al Qaeda forces linked to the 9/11 attacks, the regime in place is not only hopeless corrupt and unable to provide security for its citizens, Afghan security forces in the National Security Directorate (NDS) have been charged by UNAMA with “systematically” torturing “detainees for the purpose of obtaining confessions and information” at a number of provincial facilities.

The report alleges that fully 46 percent of prisoners held by security forces, and approximately one-third held by Afghan national police (ANP), are tortured. Furthermore, “[n]early all detainees tortured by NDS officials reported the abuse took place during interrogations and was aimed at obtaining a confession or information.” Until last month, the U.S. routinely turned prisoners over to Afghan security forces, while NATO stopped turning over prisoners to a number of different Afghan facilities last July.

Hearing about the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, I could not resist going down to Liberty Square one day to check it out. Much to my surprise (or perhaps not!), what I saw and the people I spoke with bore little resemblance to what has been portrayed in the media.

The “investigation” started exactly one YEAR ago tomorrow. Since then, we’ve heard deadlines of April and Memorial Day and Labor Day to now, where Tom Miller’s spokesman is saying that they’re “hoping that we can do this by year end.” The remaining AGs hammering out this settlement remind me of the Japanese soldiers holed up in mountain redoubts in the 1950s still fighting World WAr II because nobody told them it ended.