When Obama ran on expanding the war in Afghanistan in 2008, I supported him.  I was wrong, and when I’m wrong, I say so.   I did not realize just how corrupt Bush’s installed energy puppet from Unocal, Hamid Karzai, was and then extent to which Bush and Karzai had turned the people of Afghanistan against the US and the corrupt Karzai Regime.  The current COIN strategy cannot succeed, because counter-insurgency, without strong popular support is doomed.  Therefore, I support the establishment of a strict timeline for withdrawal.  There may be slight reason to hope for just that.

Taliban representatives and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources.

The talks follow inconclusive meetings, hosted by Saudi Arabia, that ended more than a year ago. While emphasizing the preliminary nature of the current discussions, the sources said that for the first time they believe that Taliban representatives are fully authorized to speak for the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organization based in Pakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar.

"They are very, very serious about finding a way out," one source close to the talks said of the Taliban.

Although Omar’s representatives have long publicly insisted that negotiations were impossible until all foreign troops withdraw, a position seemingly buoyed by the Taliban’s resilience on the battlefield, sources said the Quetta Shura has begun to talk about a comprehensive agreement that would include participation of some Taliban figures in the government and the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops on an agreed timeline.

The leadership knows "that they are going to be sidelined," the source said. "They know that more radical elements are being promoted within their rank and file outside their control. . . . All these things are making them absolutely sure that, regardless of [their success in] the war, they are not in a winning position."

A half-dozen sources directly involved in or on the margins of the talks agreed to discuss them on the condition of anonymity. All emphasized the preliminary nature of the talks, even as they differed on how specific they have been. All expressed concern that any public description of the meetings would undercut them.

"If you talk about it while you’re doing it, it’s not going to work," said one European official whose country has troops in Afghanistan.

Several sources said the discussions with the Quetta Shura do not include representatives of the Haqqani group, a separately led faction that U.S. intelligence considers particularly brutal and that has been the target of recently escalated U.S. drone attacks in northwestern Pakistan.

The Haqqani group is seen as more closely tied to the Pakistani intelligence service than the Quetta Shura, based in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan. But one Afghan source, reflecting tension between the two governments, said Pakistan’s insistence on a central role in any negotiations has made talks difficult even with the Quetta group…

Inserted from <Washington Post>

Like I said, it’s a long shot, but I think this be the least horrid option in a situation so constrained by years of Republican mismanagement that no good options remain.

Amid all the accusations from Republicans that Barack Obama is a socialist, many Americans are not aware that we have a real Socialist in the Senate.  He’s Bernie Sanders (I-VT).  In addition, he is the strongest progressive voice in the Senate.  He made it clear who we should hold responsible for our government’s failure to address many of the issues we face.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that Republicans "do not want Americans to succeed" in laying out his case for energizing the liberal base to go to the polls in November.

Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist who caucuses with Democrats, discussed President Obama’s disconnect with the liberal wing along with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on CBS’ "Face the Nation" Sunday.

While Obama’s accomplishment including healthcare reform have been "nothing to sneeze at," Sanders said, the middle class is shrinking while poverty increases and income gaps become wider.

"We have a very serious situation and I think there’s a concern that the president hasn’t seen that urgency," Sanders said, and "stood up for the American people the way we would like him to."

He said Obama needed to rally on a "progressive agenda to expand the middle class."

When pressed by host Bob Schieffer on his comments about Republicans, Sanders defended his words, saying that given the choice between political power and "initiatives to help the American people" that the GOP would choose power.

"The Republicans have said no, no, no," Sanders said. "They have been the party of no and obstructionism."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

Here’s a short clip of his appearance:

Note that Sanders had both praise and criticism for the Obama administration, and rightly so.  Both are completely valid.  At the same time, he made it clear that he sees the Republicans as the prime cause of the problem, because they are selling America out in their attempt to grab power.  He also made it clear that the best solution is for the liberal base to get to the polls.

I’m for the most of the things that other progressives are.  In my ideal world we would have Medicare for all, the TBTF banks would be broken up, we would have true immigration reform with a path to citizenship, DADT and DOMA would be history, and more.  But we don’t live in my ideal world.  So I am supportive the progress we have mad without being satisfied with it.  Don’t be a REGRESSive by staying home or voting in anger, because you want everything now.  Be a PROGRESSive by voting to continue and expand the progress we have made.

Several of the new crop of Republican candidates are seven cans or more short of a six pack.  I don’t mean just extreme.  We’re talking wacky-doodle-do here.  T responsible party would denounce them, or at least not support their candidacy.  Only a desperate, reprehensible party would throw their full support behind people like this.

She’s a nutcase:

Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell of Delaware said in a 2006 debate that China was plotting to take over America and claimed to have classified information about the country that she couldn’t divulge. 

"… There’s much I want to say. I wish I wasn’t privy to some of the classified information that I am privy to."

Personally, I think that if you were privy to information about the impending overthrow of our country, it would be your patriotic duty to let us all in on the plot…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Now it’s bad enough that Christine “I am not a witch” O’Donnell is certifiable, but she’s not the only one that imagines themselves to be privy to secret stuff.  Rachel Maddow and Eugene Robinson have the story.

The Republicans are so desperate to retake power that they are actually willing to include people like this.

I’m not asking anyone to go to extremes, but won’t you please be desperate enough to vote to keep the Democrats in power?