The backers of the current counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan have reminded us again and again over the past year-and-a-half that their strategy can’t work without a legitimate government in Kabul. If that’s the case, even they should admit that their plan is sunk. As Brave New Foundation’s latest Rethink Afghanistan video shows, Afghanistan’s elections were just stolen. Again.

The Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill was likely the last hope for major climate-change legislation for a number of years. With Obama on the defensive and unwilling to spend political capital on the issue, and with Congress certainly getting more Republican in November, a great window of opportunity has been missed.

A testy U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blamed clueless voters with short attention spans for the uphill battle beleaguered Democrats are facing against Republicans across the nation.

Fear. It’s a powerful tool, and has often been misused throughout history, and especially in the recent history of the United States. It was used to prevent John Kerry from becoming president, used to obstruct the current administration, and now in an election season it’s used to move conservative voters by way of a manufactured controversy over the Cordoba House mosque. Protecting our freedoms, indeed.

How do you counteract the impact of documents that attest to the realities of a war? Pretend the war isn’t what it used to be.

Video of Van Jones speech, with introduction by Howard Dean

Photos from convention including speakers, Governor Deval Patrick, Sen Paul Kirk, Sen John Kerry, & Vicki Kennedy

If you are a Republican, you usually or almost always vote Republican. If you are a Democrat, you usually or almost always vote Democrat. No matter what. If the GOP candidate has repeatedly lied about his position on issues, yet you are a Republican, you will vote for the lying Republican; so onerous is voting for a Democrat to you. Same goes for Democrats. Decades have gone by with these two parties at the helm, and what America has devolved into is a country with politics left up to the least common denominator; Is he Democratic or Republican?

What ever happened to the question, “Is he or she the best candidate for the seat?”

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), though down one man, finally released their stab at climate legislation this week. One of the most crucial sections in the bill covers off-shore oil drilling, an issue that was supposed to help solve the tricky math of reaching 60 votes. But since the Deepwater Horizon rig sank in the Gulf of Mexico, drilling has become a wedge issue.

The offshore oil drilling compromise in the American Power Act released this week is seriously flawed. Shell’s plan to drill for oil off Alaska’s North Slope provides a case study.