The New York Times on the over-hyped threat of al Qaeda.

[T]he politically charged clamor has lumped together disparate cases and obscured the fact that the enemies on American soil in 2009, rather than a single powerful and sophisticated juggernaut, were a scattered, uncoordinated group of amateurs who displayed more fervor than skill.

By the numbers:

Exactly 14 of the approximately 14,000 murders in the United States last year resulted from allegedly jihadist attacks: 13 people shot at Fort Hood in Texas in November and one at a military recruiting station in Little Rock, Ark., in June.

Even Captian Underpants is overblown: [More...]

The teenage Somalia pirate gets hit with new charges. Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio loses his bid for a new trial. A profile of David Raskind, the federal prosecutor likely to try the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial.

American Idol begins tonight with the results of the tryouts in Boston. The new season of "24" starts Sunday.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held oral arguments today in the case of Jose Padilla, accused of being a "dirty bomber" and held for years in a S.C. brig before being charged and transferred to federal court in Miami for trial. He was convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim overseas and sentenced to 17 years. Two co-defendants were also convicted and are appealing.

Attorneys for Padilla, Adham Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi say the trial was forever tainted when the videotape was played because it linked the defendants to the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil even though they were charged with other crimes.

"The error in the admission of the bin Laden video arose out of tying the architect of the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, to a case that, as to all defendants, involved conduct which predated these attacks," Padilla's attorney, Assistant U.S. Federal Defender Michael Caruso, argues in his brief.

Another big issue: [More...]

Conan O'Brien writes a letter to the public and says no dice to NBC's plan to move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. to accommodate shifting Jay Leno from prime time where his ratings have been dismal to 11:30 pm. It's a problem because they can't both follow the local news and that seems to be what's at stake. Conan writes:

For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

How can a law allow the feds to continue to imprison an inmate after his sentence is up? That's what sex offender civil commitment laws allow. The Supreme Court held oral arguments today on a challenge to Section 4248 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.

The law applies to any federal detainee, including inmates who are about to complete their entire prison terms and regardless of whether the suspected future act is a federal crime....Lawyers are challenging the law as a violation of due process. In addition, they argue that Congress exceeded the limits of its federal authority by attempting to prevent sex crimes.

...The key question before the high court is whether congressional authority to enact legislation is broad enough to encompass prevention of future sex crimes.

[More...]

The AP is reporting Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper will run for Governor of Colorado. An announcement is expected at 4:15 pm this afternoon at the state capitol.

I have been stressing this question and am pleased to see others beginning to look at it as well. Ezra has a good post:

In the House/Senate negotiations, Democrats want to make three major changes to the health-care bill, all of which cost money. First, they want to weaken the excise tax, which means less revenue. Second, they want to increase the subsidies, which means more spending. And third, they want to extend some version of the Nebraska deal federalizing the Medicaid expansion to all the states. That, again, is pricey. So where does all the new money come from?

One answer? Applying the Medicare tax to all forms of income above 250K per year:

NYTimes:

President Obama told union leaders at a private White House meeting on Monday that he remained committed to taxing high-cost insurance policies as a way to drive down health costs. But he also signaled that he was willing to amend the proposal to “make this work for working families,” a senior administration official said.

We'll see. The strange thing to me is this - if you think it is good policy - as most defenders of it have argued, wouldn't the President's "flexibility" upset you? The other thing I still do not get is how they plan to improve "affordability" (see my previous post) (which means increasing the subsidies to purchase private insurance) without finding a different revenue source. "Fixing" the excise tax is projected to cost 50 billion dollars. How much extra money will be spent to "improve affordability?" If the "deficit hawks" were REALLY deficit hawks, they would embrace the House funding mechanism - raising taxes on the wealthy - those who earn more than $500,000 a year.

Speaking for me only

Big surprise: Sarah Palin is joining Fox News. Like no one could have foreseen that.

Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter says he won't run for Governor. With Interior Secretary Ken Salazar out, it looks like the job goes to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, if he wants it.

Mark McGwire admits using steroids. Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol. There were 444 DUI arrests in Colorado over New Year's Weekend. The Denver City Council is meeting tonight on an ordinance regulating medical marijuana.

After six weeks of extensive debate, the Denver City Council is considering an ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits. The bill sets a 1000 foot distance requirement from schools and other dispensaries, limits certain felons from operating dispensaries, bars onsite consumption of marijuana, and sets fees and security measures for the businesses.

I'm watching the faux drama unfold on The Bachelor. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Marc Lynch has a new post at Foreign Policy, Don't Let Captain Underpants Bring Back the GWOT, on the mass over-hysteria about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his failed bomb plot on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

But is too much to ask that the national discourse over the failed bomber be more mature and analytical than "Captain Underpants vs Professor Poopypants "?

Lynch cites with approval this WAPO op-ed, "Don't Panic, Fear is Al Qaida's Real Goal," which is well-worth a read. He also correctly notes: [More...]

Whatever the theoretical merits of the excise tax experiment as policy, it is a political disaster. Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, today at the National Press Club:

The bill rightly seeks to ensure that most Americans have health insurance. But instead of taxing the rich, the Senate bill taxes the middle class by taxing workers' health plans--not just union members' health care; most of the 31 million insured employees who would be hit by the excise tax are not union members.

The tax on benefits in the Senate bill pits working Americans who need health care for their families against working Americans struggling to keep health care for their families. This is a policy designed to benefit elites [. . .] at the expense of the broader public. It's the same tragic pattern that got us where we are today, and I can assure you the labor movement is fighting with everything we've got to win health care reform that is worthy of the support of working men and women.

(Emphasis supplied.) Imposing this experiment will exact a severe political cost on the Democratic Party. It is political malpractice.

Speaking for me only

Update: AP news article here. This just in (via e-mail, no link, from the folks at Protect Marriage, who moved to block the video streaming):

Just minutes ago, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy stayed the order of Judge Vaughn Walker that would have allowed for streaming video in the case challenging Proposition 8, Perry v Schwarzenegger. Walker previously had agreed to provide a video stream of the trial on a daily basis through YouTube. The Perry case would have been the first trial ever in the Ninth Circuit where cameras had been allowed in the courtroom. ProtectMarriage.com vigorously fought Walker’s order by appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and then filing an emergency appeal with Justice Kennedy.

The stay order is in effect until Wednesday, January 13th at 4:00pm eastern time to permit the Supreme Court time for further consideration. The full text of the order is below: [More...]