Mitt Romney was not a businessman; he was a master financial speculator who bought, sold, flipped, and stripped businesses. He did not build enterprises the old-fashioned way—out of inspiration, perspiration, and a long slog in the free market fostering a new product, service, or process of production. Instead, he spent his 15 years raising debt in prodigious amounts on Wall Street so that Bain could purchase the pots and pans and castoffs of corporate America, leverage them to the hilt, gussy them up as reborn “roll-ups,” and then deliver them back to Wall Street for resale—the faster the better. - Former Reagan Budget Director David Stockman

David Stockman was the former Reagan budget director. He went to a life of LBO "artist." He first becme well known for telling the truth about Reagan's voodoo economics and was 'taken to the woodshed' for his frankness.

In this article, Stockman puts together Mitt Romney's 'great' business career with the polices that allowed for it and which he wants to double down on. Stockman wrote:

How it's done.

If you love Bill Murray (and I do), you have to love this:

The next time you instantly erase 114 minutes of your life by getting sucked, once again, into the vortex that is a cable viewing of Road House, rest assured that Bill Murray and his idiot brothers are out there somewhere, watching with you. At least that’s the story from Road House co-star Kelly Lynch, who, in a frankly awesome interview with The A.V. Club, says that Murray calls her husband, Mitch Glazer (co-writer of Murray’s 1988 Christmas Carol redux Scrooged), whenever the movie is on TV during one scene in particular:

Every time Road House is on and he or one of his idiot brothers are watching TV — and they’re always watching TV — one of them calls my husband and says [In a reasonable approximation of Carl Spackler], “Kelly’s having sex with Patrick Swayze right now. They’re doing it. He’s throwing her against the rocks.” [Away from the receiver.] What? Oh, my God. Mitch was just walking out the door to the set, and he said that Bill once called him from Russia.

Open Thread.

In the George Zimmerman case, Mark O'Mara has filed two fairly explosive motions. You can read them here and here.

In addition to withholding the report on the analysis of the phone found at the scene alleged to have been Trayvon's, it turns out the records given to the defense by the investigator who downloaded the information from the phone's sim card don't match those turned over by the State.

Also check out Officer Joseph Santiago's chronology of events concerning the phone.

There's lots more in these motions I don't have time to get into now like issues regarding the Dee Dee (witness 8) interview. O'Mara says he will depose the Martin family lawyers and public relations adviser. Diwataman has a summary of the motions.

If the state has been playing fast and loose with its discovery obligations as alleged by O'Mara, and it seems he has the documentation to back it up, the state has some serious explaining to do.

I'll be back today flying solo on Daily Kos Radio from 11 to noon Eastern today. Discussing THE WEEK of the campaign.

Also this and this article on Obama and Clinton. Tune in today. I think you'll like it.

How to Listen to Daily Kos Radio:

Can't see the Flash player? Click here to download the stream directly.

Open Thread.

Last month, Amendment 64, Colorado' proposal to legalize small amounts of marijuana for adult use had a 51 to 49 lead. This week, after the pot warriors came to town and took out ads, the lead is down to 48 to 39%.

This bill is an impoortant one to pass. Right now, possession of under an ounce of pot carries a hundred dollar fine --and a criminal record. You have to disclose it when applying for jobs. If you are in college, your will lose your loan for a while. Paying to expunge it later is expensive, and given the number of records on the internet, some will likely stay there. It can affect your ability to rent an apartment or apply for some kinds of professional licenses.

If the law isn't on the books, the state can't charge, and you are free of that pesky criminal record. Same goes for your kids, where a record could hurt their chances of getting into or staying in college. [More...]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 defendants have hearings this week, beginning tomorrow at Guantanamo's court for military commissions -- their first hearings since May.

Reporters who are there tonight say on Twitter the number of reporters seems to have decreased by 50%. Some estimate only 25 reporters are there, and several of them are there for the first time, representing organizations such as Jesuit Weekly and the Bergen Record.

The defense lawyers complained today that the office space they were given is infested with rats, rat feces and mold and making them ill. They filed a Motion called "Mr. Mohammad's Emergency Motion to Delay the October 2012 Hearing due to Defense Offices Being Deemed Unsafe by the US Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay due to the Presence of Hazardous Mold, Rodents, and Rodent Feces." While (naturally) the motion and responses are sealed, the Court's one sentence order denying the motion is available on the docket (choose the active case for KSM from the dropdown list and then the link for all documents at the bottom or the docket link.) [More...]

Arlen Specter has passed away. He was 82. A pretty important figure, from the "magic bullet" theory, to blocking Bork, to making sure Clarence Thomas was confirmed, to switching to the Democratic Party at the end of his career, Specter was always in the middle of contention.

When he was running for the Democratic nomination n 2010 against Joe Sestak, I got a chance to speak to him extensively. I'll write in more depth about him later, but for now, here are some links - On Kagan and Supporting the Public Option through the reconciliation process.

A moment of silence please, for the season of the New York Yankees, who won't be winning their 28th championship this year, and lost their captain, Derek Jeter, to a fractured ankle last night.

A sigh of relief for the Florida Gators, who survived a lackluster performance at Vandy to keep their season record perfect at 6-0. Next week, an angry South Carolina team coached by the greatest Florida Gator, the Old Ball Coach hisself, Steve Spurrier. A scary game for the Gators.

Finally, while I do not delve too much in to picking NFL games (too much variable in effort from these teams imo), I have to say that I think the 49ers (-7) over the New York FOOTBALL Giants seems like a terrific investment opportunity. The Giants have been lackluster all year. The 49ers are still fuming over their loss last year in the playoff game and Harbaugh is insane. Take the Niners, lay the 7. I expect a blowout. (My personal investment here will by 5 units.)

Open Thread.

POSTSCRIPT - Why not much on the state of the Presidential race? Because everything you might read, think or hear today will be overwhelmed by the most anticipated second Presidential debate since 1984 (when America wanted to know if Reagan was senile (he was, but everyone decided to pretend he wasn't cuz he got off that practiced one liner about Mondale"s "youth and inexperience.")) Whatever you read now is pointless. After Tuesday night we'll have an idea where we will stand in the race.

I'm a wreck. My Gators and my Yanks play tonight and it's tough sledding for both.

Open Thread.

The picks (2 units unless otherwise indicated):

TCU +7 over Baylor, USC -13 over Washington, Arkansas -17 over Kentucky (3 units), Louisiana Tech +9 over Texas A&M, South Carolina +3 over LSU (5 units), Vanderbilt +9 over Florida, Ohio State -17½ over Indiana, Oklahoma State -27½ over Kansas, Tennessee +3 over Mississippi State, California -7 over Washington State, Bowling Green -7½ over Miami Ohio, BYU -5½ over Oregon State (3 units), North Carolina -7½ over Miami (Florida) (5 units), Utah +9½ over UCLA (3 units), Maryland +1½ over Virginia (3 units), Missouri +21½ over Alabama, Notre Dame -7 over Stanford (5 units), Boise State -7 over Fresno State (3 units), Michigan -25 over Illinois, West Virginia -4½ over Texas Tech (5 units), SMU -18 over Tulane (3 units), Temple +5½ over Connecticut, Louisville -3 over Pittsburgh, Northwestern -3½ over Minnesota, Oklahoma -3½ over Texas (5 units), Iowa +9 over Michigan State, Army +3 over Kent State, Syracuse +7½ over Rutgers, Kansas State -7 over Iowa State, Wisconsin +2 over Purdue, Auburn +6 over Mississippi

Open Thread.

Via the New York Times: U.S. Rethinks a Drug War After Deaths in Honduras

All joint operations in Honduras are now suspended. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, expressing the concerns of several Democrats in Congress, is holding up tens of millions of dollars in security assistance, not just because of the planes, but also over suspected human rights abuses by the Honduran police and three shootings in which commandos with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration effectively led raids when they were only supposed to act as advisers.

DEA's FAST program began under George W Bush. (Obama has extended it.) FAST stands for Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team. In plain English, squads of commandos. It operates in Haiti, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Belize. Here's a powerpoint about it.

The Administration's total Drug War budget for 2013 is $25 billion. [More.]