Lugar added that, with only 100 Al Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan, the country “does not carry a strategic value that justifies 100,000 American troops and a $100 billion per year cost, especially given current fiscal restraints.” Plus, the very fact of the raid inside Pakistan shows that no safe haven is truly safe, nor do we have no tools we’re willing to use to deal with the prospect of a safe haven, even if we aren’t holding the country in question under occupation. We obviously have no problem responding to terrorists at any time and any place.

With Gadhafi’s forces poised to overrun the eastern stronghold of Benghazi, such intervention to save Libyan lives from the murderous ambitions of its ruler perhaps makes sense. But nobody has adequately explained where this ends. Will the no-fly zone, which doesn’t seem to be a solution to the actual problem in Libya, lead to airstrikes against Gadhafi’s military forces? A ground intervention? And who will lead that effort? The Arab League seems to be doing a lot of cheerleading from the sidelines. Will they commit troops?

Anytime someone in Washington puts the brakes on empire, it’s worth noting

I’d say a shutdown is likely, although in recent days it’s the Republicans doing the movement, from “no short-term CR” to “a short-term CR with cuts in it.” But you don’t have to hear “we all agree there should be cuts” too many times to know that’s where we’re headed with this.

I really hope this video of the shooting doesn’t get leaked, but just the retelling of it reinforces what Cheney leaned toward today. Jared Loughner, a determined individual, ran up and shot dozens of people at close range, and only ended his rampage when he had to reload, providing a moment of opportunity for the victims. Nobody had any chance of stopping him at any other point; the only heroic acts available to them were to shield other bystanders and sacrifice themselves. Loughner’s victims never knew what hit them. “More guns” in this case would have amounted to nothing; in fact, the one person with a gun who came running out to aid in the situation almost wound up shooting an innocent man.

Before the DADT repeal vote on Saturday, the Senate will take up the DREAM Act. Both votes came up as a House amendment to a Senate amendment to a bill, so they only require one cloture vote, a motion to concur. If they invoke cloture with 60 votes, they would only need a simple majority after that, and Harry Reid will fill the amendment tree on the measures, so if something passes, it would look identical to what the House passed. With Senators Bennett and Lugar in the bag, a unified caucus would mean 60 votes. But given the nature of how the vote is being brought up, I think the overwhelmingly likely outcome is that it fails tomorrow.

Bob Gates successfully convinced Brown on the implementation process, which should concern people a bit, especially as Gates might not be around to do the implementation. Gates did say that he would not “slow-walk” things, but what about his successor? What if a President Palin reaches office without implementation in place, and she just never certifies it? I don’t know if that’s likely, but it’s something to watch.

Senator Richard Lugar wants the Senate to call his own party’s bluff on the new START arms reduction treaty, bringing it up for a vote in the lame duck session. He stood with John Kerry and Hillary Clinton yesterday, rebuking Senate Republicans for their stall tactics.

Senator George LeMieux (R-FL) is starting to feel the heat of pro-migrant voters, specifically Latino voters. Saturday, Univision aired a debate in which current Florida governor and U.S. Senate nominee Charlie Crist came out in support of the DREAM Act. Thursday, Representative Kendrick Meek (D-FL), and also a nominee for U.S. Senate, hand delivered a letter to LeMieux.

What planet is Lugar on? Currently, Republicans would rather lose Russian nuclear base inspections than ratify this treaty, and they’re using it to gain leverage for pork-barrel spending on nuclear weapons “modernization,” which has basically nothing to do with this treaty. If it wasn’t that, they’d hold it hostage for maintaining Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, or more sanctions on Iran, or giving the “state of Jesus” statehood, or any of a thousand other ideas.