baghdad blogs

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/

the numbers

The Journal's latest poll has the president's approval rating at 35 percent, five points down from February.

spoken like a true dictator

"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."

--you know who

Quote of the Day

"I don't think we should create a longer wait in line for the majority of people to provide a shorter line for a few people"
--Randy Walker, director of Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport,

attribution

Letter of the Day

In a constitutional democracy with a civilian commander in chief, it would be considered borderline treason for generals to call for a president’s resignation.

Generals rebel against presidents in banana republics and military dictatorships. In the United States, the generals, outraged by the incompetence and arrogance of their commander-in-chief, with thousands of troops either killed or maimed due to bad planning under their watch, call for the resignation of the secretary of defense. It’s the American and courteous way of calling out the man in the White House without actually calling out the man in the White House.

But we should see through this smokescreen. The generals who have called for the removal of Donald H. Rumsfeld are really talking about his boss and their commander-in-chief, George W. Bush. The media side-step this obvious point. But it’s obvious to the White House, and its only rebuttal, which assumes we’re idiots, is to challenge these generals and question why they didn’t speak up before they “retired.” This comes from an administration that labels journalists, members of Congress and other public figures who challenge White House policy in Iraq as unpatriotic Americans who are aiding and abetting the enemy.

And so the White House defends Rumsfeld. It must. The growing Rumsfeld scandal is a thin veil that barely masks the truth. With Rumsfeld gone, who would be left to blame?
— William Stosine, Iowa City.

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what a story

homeless man returns wallet with $900.

from yahoo:

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A homeless man searching through garbage bins for recyclable cans found a missing wallet and had it returned to its owner.

Kim Bogue, who works as a janitor in the city's government buildings, realized that her wallet was missing last week and doubted she'd ever get back the $900 and credit cards inside, she said.

"I prayed that night and asked God to help me," said Bogue, who was saving the money for a trip to her native Thailand.

Days later, a homeless man found the wallet wrapped in a plastic bag in a trash bin, where Bogue had accidentally thrown it away with her lunch. He gave it to Sherry Wesley, who works in a nearby building.

"He came to me with the wad of money and said, 'This probably belongs to someone that you work with, can you return it,'" Wesley said.

Workers at a nearby relief kitchen said the man, who didn't want to be identified, insists on paying for his food.

"He has a very good heart," said Bogue, who gave the man a $100 reward. "If someone else found it, the money would be gone."

cbs: you've got a hit on your hands

and it's called THE UNIT.

this show rocks. from the directors's fabulously styled shooting, to the actors' incredibly smooth professionalism that captures reality in so many ways, it's hard to count.

this show hits a homerun, and home is where the heart is. out of the ballfield home.

one has GOT to ask: why can't we fight this "war" on terrorism with groups like 'the unit' and not with full squadrons of men in tanks. this whole business of what rummy is doing, is actually good, and you know me, i hate the man. but to fight this thing with smaller, more adept units. well, that's the way i would do it. of course, you're going to rattle feathers. i'd be surprised if none did get fluffed. but bush made his presidency upon 'steadfastness' and 'staying the course' and all that. iow, change and bush do not belong in the same sentence.

but that's just me.

the notion of diplomatic immunity

watching ncis, there was a mention of not being able to arrest someone due to diplomatic immunity. this is nonesense.
i can see DI being used in misdemeanor cases, but when it involves murder, no way. man should not be excused for killing another man.

no where. no time. no body.

i normally don't dig dogs

but this one's got my heart down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/masoncitylife/131059144/

Quote of the Day

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved through understanding."
--Albert Einstein

for those of you interested in court proceedings

bookmark this

i can'd understand all these attacks on gays

to change laws TO ALLOW discrimination takes society back not forward. i hope every last one who voted for this contacts the worse STD possible.

Private Christian colleges would be excepted from local and state non-discrimination laws under a proposed amendment to the Higher Education Act - a move that would allow the schools to legally reject LGBT students.

The amendment, proposed by Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), would prevent accrediting boards from making adherence to non-discrimination laws a requirement.

The measure passed the House last week and is currently before the Senate.
--source

can you believe this?

Yesterday's LAT noticed that a principal at an elementary school in Inglewood was so worried her students might attend pro-immigration rallies that she barred some from even going to the bathroom, forcing them to use buckets in class.

--today's papers

oh wait, there's this excuse:

Now the odd part: The school district defended the principal. They explained that the super-lockdown, bucket routine is indeed allowed, albeit only in a slightly more extreme scenario, namely nuclear Armageddon. "When there's a nuclear attack, that's when buckets are used," said a district official. "She made a decision to follow the handbook. She just misread it."

talk about wasteful spending

Mississippi's two U.S. senators included $700 million in an emergency war spending bill to relocate a Gulf Coast rail line that has already been rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina at a cost of at least $250 million.

--source

Letter of the Day

there was a toss-up, and this one won.

I used to think Sen. John McCain was a cut above the ordinary. However, on a recent trip to Iowa, he promoted Rep. Jim Nussle for governor and supported President Bush’s “We have got to keep the military option on the table” against Iran. It is extraordinary how ordinary the senator has become.
— The Rev. John M. Herzog, Ames.

attribution

get ready for the propaganda, bigotry and lies

what other way could you possibly describe the GOP agenda?

(AP) Protection of marriage amendment? Check. Anti-flag burning legislation? Check. New abortion limits? Check.

Between now and the November elections, Republicans are penciling in plans to take action on social issues important to religious conservatives, the foundation of the GOP base, as they defend their congressional majority.

In a year where an unpopular war in Iraq has helped drive President Bush's approval ratings below 40 percent, core conservatives whose turnout in November is vital to the party want assurances that they are not being taken for granted.

"It seems like for only six months, every two years _ right around election time _ that we're even noticed," said Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council. "Some of these better pass," he added. "You notice when it's just lip service being paid."
--source

more on the dolittle dichotmy

from TPM:

You probably remember that Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) and his wife have a special arrangement, of dubious legality, in which they get to personally pocket 15% of the campaign contributions to John's reelection campaign and leadership committee. So far this political cycle the Doolittles have bagged just over $82,000 as their personal cut. Since some of the fattest months of the fundraising cycle are still to come, I guess it's conceiveable that the Doolittles could stash away more from this de facto bribe system than John's congressional salary.

isn't anybody screaming about this yet? what a scam!

more scandal in california?

this one is SURE to make some people stand up and scream.

On Capitol Hill, there is widespread agreement that the annual congressional salary of $165,200 just does not go far enough on today's dollar. The clamor for ethics reform will likely make things tougher, forcing congressmen to pick up lunch and dinner tabs and pay their own way to Redskins games.

One enterprising member of the House, Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), and his wife, Julie Doolittle, have found an innovative -- and apparently legal -- way to boost the family salary.

Julie Doolittle has set up a fundraising company, Sierra Dominion Financial Services. Two of her clients are John Doolittle's campaign committee and his leadership PAC, the Superior California Federal Leadership Fund. Julie Doolittle's company gets 15 cents of every dollar raised by her husband's political committees.

The United Parcel Service PAC, for example, has given $15,000 to the leadership PAC and $10,000 to the campaign committee, which, in turn, means a commission of $3,750 for Julie Doolittle's company.

--story

a scandal in california?

say it is so!

SACRAMENTO — A television ad campaign portrayed as an independent effort to help Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been bankrolled partly by a group with deep ties to his political operation.

An official with the New Majority, a Southern California Republican group at the core of Schwarzenegger's fundraising apparatus, said its members have given about $1 million to the Washington, D.C., business group that is the public face of the ads: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

--LATimes

ahhhh NOW i get the fuss about al-zarqawi

it was an effort by the bushististas to divide (in consequently conquer) al-qaeda. by making al-zarqawi the main boogie nam took the spotlight off ayman al-zawahiri, the current #2 in al-qaeda. by playing up the role of one, makes the other more apt to do something, like shaking a tree branch in the fall. hoping the leaves fall in some sort of fashion that will provide a path for the U.S. to finally conquer al-qaeda.

will it work? not a chance. the bushististas are experts at fucking things up. they're not about to about face and do something that was right for America this time.

oh and the reason for all that? from today's papers:

In a front-page story, the WP surmises that the videotaped rants and writings of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy leader of al-Qaida, are an effort to maintain his grip over a radical Islamic movement that is increasingly out of his control. Many analysts believe that ideological and tactical disputes between al-Qaida's feuding factions have resurfaced since 9/11, allowing new leaders, such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to emerge as potential rivals to Zawahiri.

Letter of the Day

The shenanigans of the Republican Party in Des Moines lately have been nothing short of amazing. Sometimes just one sentence from them can say volumes. In a story about the dumping of Stewart Iverson and the election of Mary Lundby as replacement Iowa Senate Republican leader, (GOP senators try out an urban, centrist view, Globe Gazette, 12 April) Sen. Dave Mulder, R-Sioux Center, was quoted as saying, “Everything you hear around here is we’re going in the tank.”

That one sentence explains why the desperate Republicans would take such a drastic action. They are so afraid of losing their control in the Senate that they are paying far too little attention to the business of the people that must be done at the near-end of this year’s legislative session.

If those Republicans in the Senate were paying as much attention to wrapping up the session as they are worrying about next fall’s elections, we’d all be better off.

On a second front, you just gotta love the opportunism of a guy like Jim Nussle. The gross overpaying of a couple of so-called executives of a job training group in Des Moines is being investigated by “a myriad of agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Department of Public Safety and the Polk County Attorney’s Office” (Globe Gazette, April 11).

Now Nussle says that isn’t enough; we need yet another state agency, the Office of the Inspector General. Apparently, five offices in three levels of government still need company. This from a guy who wants to be called a conservative and who wants to be governor? Give me a break.
--JOHN GRONINGA, Mason City

attribution

something that just dawned on me

watching this thing about forbidden in the bible on the history channel, it dawns on me.... who taught adam and eve how to talk?

once a liar, always a liar

The RNC is running Spanish-language ads against Harry Reid arguing that Democrats were behind the bill the House passed to treat illegal aliens as felons.

That of course is the GOP-backed bill Republicans are now running away from in droves.

Figure the ad will get taken off the air? Will the cable nets feature the bamboozlement?

The argument is really pretty egregious even by GOP standards. House Republicans put up a bill to make being an illegal alien a felony. An amendment was proposed that would have made it a misdemeanor. As the AP reports, "Democrats, including members of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, voted against the amendment, arguing they did not support criminal penalties. Nevada Republicans Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons also voted against the amendment, which failed. The felony provision remained in the bill, H.R. 4437, and it passed the House on a largely party line vote."

So Democrats wouldn't vote for criminalizing at all. Ergo, they're for making it a felony.

This sort of bald-faced lying really should be called out.

Late Update: Apparently the DC GOP is really in full bamboozle mode here. And the word has gone out to blame Democrats for the felony provision the GOP passed through the House like a week ago. I wonder if someone will ask Ken Mehlman about the ad he's running.

from TPM

Letter Of The Day

it's not often i learn from letter writers, but today was different. i had heard about this bill, but didn't really understand what it meant. now i, and you, do.

America’s system of counting votes is beset by grave problems that cast doubt on the integrity of our elections. At least 80 percent of the votes in America are counted by computer equipment designed and sold by just a handful of companies.

Many machines do not leave a paper trail. The software on these machines is a trade secret. And the testing of vote-counting software is done mostly by companies that are paid by the voting-machine companies. These testing companies are by definition not independent, and their testing is hardly authoritative.

When independent computer scientists in California and Florida were given partial access to the Diebold company’s election software, they found the latest generation of Diebold’s AccuVote machines allow anyone with access to its memory cards to switch election results at will, leaving no trace of tampering. This latest generation of Diebold machines, including ballot scanners and paperless touchscreens, are now used throughout Iowa.

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2006 (HR 550) addresses these problems and has more than 160 cosponsors from both parties. No cosponsors are from Iowa. Congress should pass this badly needed law.
— Sean Flaherty, North Liberty.

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my kind of music

A three-piece combo who managed to make inspired music during the 1990s while blazing a path through most of the popular electronic styles of the decade, Fluke was formed by occasional vocalist Jon Fugler, Mike Tournier and Mike Bryant after the three had spent several years living in the same combination house and recording studio. At first an eclectic, widely inspired house-pop act, the three later moved into trip-hop (and the British charts) during the mid-'90s before another leap into big-beat video-game soundtracks by the end of the decade.

--source

here's a site that has some decent programming to it.

that's my church!

this should probably make Quote Of The Day status:

"I will officiate at only religious marriages for same- and opposite-gender couples alike," said the Rev. Don Portwood of the Lyndale United Church of Christ. "I will no longer sign marriage licenses as an agent of the state of Minnesota, until the state of Minnesota recognizes the loving commitment of all couples."
--source

proof that republicans are a party of bigotry?

The WP's Richard Morin pens a column highlighting a new study suggesting that black GOP candidates cause white Republicans to switch over and vote for white Democratic candidates. He says that could hurt Michael Steele, a black Republican candidate for Senate in Maryland.

why is africa always just a footnote?

The NYT confirms yesterday's wire reports that the regime in Sudan is possibly behind violence in the capital city of neighboring Chad, where the U.S. Embassy has evacuated its personnel

and back to the military

The Los Angeles Times follows up again on its Afghanistan black-market disk drive scoop, now reporting that the disks detail U.S. intelligence showing that insurgents use bases in Pakistan.

i thought pakistan was our ally in the war on terror? musta been something bush said.

first the military screwup, now the katrina screw up

The Washington Post leads with reports of "vast sums of waste and misspent funds" in the $10 billion for housing aid allocated by the federal government after Katrina.

seems nobody likes the bushites

The New York Times leads with two new public calls for Rumsfeld's resignation by retired U.S. generals, bringing the total to six. Even more retired generals have anonymously expressed similar opinions in the past few days, according to the NYT.

--today's papers

Letter of the Day

What an odd headline, “DeLay Resigns House Seat on His Own Terms,” April 5. What exactly were his terms? Tom DeLay resigned in the middle of multiple criminal investigations, ethics scandals in his office, an indictment, loss of his leadership position in the House and an almost certain embarrassing defeat in the fall.

Were his terms staying around long enough to crush three fellow Republicans in the Texas primary, and now on his resignation tour crying how much he loves the Republican Party?

DeLay whines about his dissatisfaction with “just” being a congressman. It reminds me of the time he was told to put out his cigar in a federal-building restaurant. When they explained it was against the law of the federal government, DeLay boomed out, “I am the federal government.”
Not anymore.
— Mike Burgher, Urbandale.

attribution

so why can't we marry then?

Legislation introduced in the U.S House of Representatives last week would amend the Social Security Act to afford same-sex couples the same benefits, responsibilities, and obligations as others who pay into Social Security. The Equal Access to Social Security Act, H.R. 5152, would add the term "permanent partner" to the Social Security Act in addition to the terms "husband" and "wife," which are already present in the legal code.

--more

the numbers

Democrats lead Republicans 49% to 35% among registered voters who were asked which party they intended to support in their congressional districts this fall. When registered voters were asked which party they hoped would control the House and Senate after the midterm election, 51% picked the Democrats and 38% the GOP.
--source

what happened is that the republicans proved themselves to be the wrong party for America.

Letter of the Day

Don’t blame Bush for the Iraq war and the budget deficit. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, the power of the purse and the ability to override a presidential veto.

After 9/11, with the president — the man with the bullhorn at Ground Zero promising vengeance — riding high in the polls, Congress was so scared of appearing less tough on terror than the president that it wrote him a blank check, which he promptly cashed to pursue the neo-con dream of reshaping the Middle East starting with Iraq.

At home Congress has perfected the technique of buying taxpayer votes with taxpayer money. But if you want to see who is really responsible, look no further than your mirror. The Constitution gives “we the people” the right to throw the rascals out. This November might be a good time to start.
— Ian Binnie, Des Moines.

attribution

Quote of the Day

"The new Washington Post editorial, an enormous turd that editorial page editor Fred Hiatt no doubt wrote, is such an unmitigated piece of BushCo. propaganda, such a giant bag of bullshit it deserves to be taken apart, piece by piece and beaten into the ground."
--Jane Hamshire

--source

getting their fingers into everything

it's clear, everything they touch ends up being disastrous.

Months after suggesting that standardized testing should be brought to colleges and universities, a higher education commission named by the Bush administration is examining proposals to change sharply how the nation's colleges are accredited and how federal student aid is administered.

--story

when they talk about iran - think halliburton

and there will be a swelling of it as we go forward, think about halliburton. it's got operations there:

It's just another Halliburton oil and gas operation. The company name is emblazoned everywhere: On trucks, equipment, large storage silos and workers' uniforms.

But this isn't Texas. It's Iran. U.S. companies aren't supposed to do business here.

Yet, in January, Halliburton won a contract to drill at a huge Iranian gas field called Pars.

"I am baffled that any American company would want to have employees operating in Iran," says Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "I would think they'd be ashamed."

Halliburton says the operation — videotaped by NBC News — is entirely legal. It's run by a subsidiary called "Halliburton Products and Services Limited," based outside the U.S."
--more

Quote of the Day

The idea that Bush's "tax cuts" have lightened the cost of government on Americans is nothing more than a con man's sleight-of-hand. The federal government is spending well over $2 trillion per year. Where is the $2 trillion coming from? The Russians? Martians?
--Harry Browne

attribution

i just dumped a few bucks ($1700) into silver. have you seen the silver rate lately? i could do 1.27% in 30 days!

ask the editors (of the new york times)

HERE

he LIED

The WP revisits those non-existent mobile bio labs the White House once insisted the Saddam had. "We have found the weapons of mass destruction," Bush declared in May 2003 after some trailers were found. The Post says two days before that, a secret Pentagon mission had sent its findings "to Washington" and unanimously concluded that the trailers weren't for banned weapons. The team had inspected the trailers and dubbed them "the biggest sand toilets in the world." Said one team member, "Within the first four hours, it was clear to everyone that these were not biological labs."
--

today's papers

Quote of the Year

"No citizen of the Unites States should be required to swear to support the government, which is the (Bush) administration. Those kids in Iraq died only because of George Bush, and I will not swear to support a government with immoral and unlawful policies."

--Basil E Dalack, an appellate lawyer who recently won a seat on the Tequesta Village Council, who served in the Army in Korea during the Korean War.

attribution

no nukes... means no NUKES

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 10 (OneWorld) - Native Americans want U.S. authorities to cancel plans to detonate 700 tons of explosives on what they say is tribal land in Nevada.

The planned explosion, scheduled for June 2 some 90 miles from Las Vegas, is aimed at aiding U.S. efforts to develop ''bunker buster'' weapons capable of penetrating solid rock. Officials have suggested the test would constitute the largest non-nuclear, open-air blast in the test site's history.

--yahoo

"perhaps inappropriate" ???

The Servicemember's Legal Defense Network has released documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Department of Defense, which confirm the military's surveillance of organizations working to repeal the Military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy, PageOneQ has learned.

"The very idea that the federal government believes freedom of speech is a threat to national security is unconscionable," Steve Ralls, Servicemember's Legal Defense Network’s Director of Communications told PageOneQ today. “The Pentagon has acknowledged that collection of the information was perhaps inappropriate,” Mr. Ralls said as he cited an earlier report by United Press International on the Pentagon’s admission.

--source


"perhaps inappropriate"? try highly illegal.

the numbers

The Washington Post off-leads a poll that has President Bush's approval rating clocking in at 38 percent—three points down from a month ago and the lowest the poll has recorded. But what's more interesting: 47 percent of all respondents said they "strongly disapprove." Overall, the president's disapproval rating was 60 percent.

betcha didn't know

The NYT's Ed Wong visits Iraq's stock exchange, which: 1) exists, 2) is open twice a week, and 3) has "lost almost two-thirds of its value in the past year."

remember what he said about it

down the road, when it happens:

President Bush said Monday that force is not necessarily required to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, and he dismissed reports of plans for a military attack against Tehran as "wild speculation."

--source

from the WELL DUH files

LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - Zurich is the city with the highest quality of life in 2006, while Baghdad, for the third year running, has the lowest, a survey published on Monday shows.

--source

more whitehouse shenanigans

Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show. The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 -- as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out, and then abruptly shut down.

--story

the people are getting tired of business as usual

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Elections pitting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative coalition against a center-left grouping led by Romano Prodi appeared too close to call on Monday after early projections showed a neck-and-neck race.

--cnn