Brandon Friedman at VetVoice writes today that “one year ago — last September — the hostile fire death rates in Iraq and Afghanistan were roughly equal. But now, in terms of hostile fire death rates, what was once seen as the ‘safer’ theater, Afghanistan has now exploded to the point that it’s nearly 15 times more dangerous for American troops than Iraq.” Using causality figures from the last 30 days, Friedman finds:
Hostile fire death rate in Iraq: 7 deaths per 146,000 troops (.005 percent)
Hostile fire death rate in Afghanistan: 7 deaths per 10,000 troops (.07 percent)
As part of his plan to suspend his campaign activities, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) today decided to cancel his appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. McCain’s campaign reportedly told Letterman that the senator was “racing back to Washington.” That, however, didn’t happen. In his show to air tonight, Letterman shows footage of McCain sitting down with CBS’s Katie Couric for an interview at the same time he was supposed to be on his show. Watch it:
Instead of McCain, Letterman hosted MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. (HT: FDL)
America this week faces an historic crisis in our climate system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, the Southwest will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. If we do not act, every corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.
Last spring, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns. This morning, I met with a group of advisers to talk about the steps that we should take going forward. I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.
It has become clear that we are running out of time.
Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.
I am confident that before Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.
Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.
A blogger can dream, no? I will say that I didn’t have to change very many words from his actual remarks today.
“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”
Doesn’t this seem like a very strong argument for a much smaller appropriation designed to last for another couple of months? There’s nothing to stop congress from appropriating more money in mid-November if the situation seems to warrant it.
This time around you have to feel bad for Sarah Palin. For once, it’s not her inexperience and — worse — lack of knowledge that’s really at issue here. Rather, she’s being asked to serve as a public face for the McCain campaign’s fundamentally dishonest pitch that McCain is anything other than a by-the-book right-wing deregulator of the financial system:
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “Barriers to Justice: Examining Equal Pay for Equal Work.” One of the witnesses was retired Goodyear Tire employee Lilly Ledbetter, who was denied equal pay by her supervisor even though she was doing the exact same job as her male counterparts and received numerous performance-based awards. A highlight from today’s hearing:
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) referred to McCain, saying, “One senior senator, who didn’t show up to vote on the act, said quote ‘women just need more education and job training.’”
Ledbetter said she was “strongly offended” by the McCain statement and that she frequently took continuing education courses while working for Goodyear.
As Ledbetter notes, the pay gap does not exist because of education inequality, despite what McCain said. Dana Goldstein points out that women increasingly make up majorities of college-degree holders:
Women account for 56 percent of the undergraduate student population and 59 percent of the graduate school population. Across all age groups, over half of all the people in the United States with a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree are women, though men do still make up the majority of Americans with a professional degree or doctorate. Younger generations are moving quickly toward parity.
In 2000, McCain also opposed an amendment aimed at providing “more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex.” In 1985, McCain voted against a study to investigate pay differences among federal employees and determine whether they were the result of discrimination.
Tonight, during her interview with Katie Couric, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) dodged repeated inquiries about Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) regulatory record. When pressed by Couric “to name a specific example, in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation,” Palin fumbled:
COURIC: I’m just going to ask you one more time – not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.
PALIN: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.
Watch it:
Palin may be looking for the nonexistent. Despite calling for more regulation and oversight in the wake of the Wall Street’s collapse, throughout his long career in the Senate, McCain, and his top campaign advisers, dutifully championed deregulatory policies.
In fact, during an interview with CBS News just this Sunday, McCain said he did not “regret” championing the deregulation of Wall Street, arguing that “the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy.”
In her interview with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) tonight, CBS’s Katie Couric noted that the governor has said, “John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business.” “Can you give us any more examples of his leading the charge for more oversight?” Couric asked. Palin, however, refused to answer the question directly, instead going on about how McCain is seen as a “maverick.” When pressed further by Couric, Palin was unable to name any examples of McCain pushing for more regulation:
PALIN: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.
COURIC: I’m just going to ask you one more time – not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.
PALIN: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a 
