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George at Old Fashioned Patriot started the cycle by linking to Swopa’s post at Needlenose on the Iraqi election. Then Steve Gilliard had a post The Shi’ia Won which quoted Juan Cole’s views of the election. Professor Cole closed the net by linking to Swopa.

You should read them, but the short version: this was the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s election, not Bush’s, and it was designed to give the majority Shi’ia the political power their numbers deserve.

The Shi’ia turned out in large numbers, the Kurds in lower numbers, because they really want a separate state, and the Sunnis probably didn’t make it into double digits.

The Sunnis didn’t turn out because of the safety issue, which gave Sunni politicians the cover to call for boycotting the elections. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Sunni leaders were helping the insurgents to make the “safety issue” worse.

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Guy of Rook’s Rant pointed me to a new venture: The Carnival of Bad History brought to us by John McKay at archy.

Have a look at the concept to see if you’re interested.

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Clif Burns at Outside the Tent pierces the inner truth of a fashion faux pas.

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If you need a lift, It’s Morning Somewhere has something better than Prozac.

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In appealing to minority voters in pursuit of support for his “piratization” of Social Security Insurance, Bush stated that if you die before you retire, the system keeps all the money you put into the system, while under the “directed gambling” his cabal wishes to impose, you can leave the “over-billing for management fees” to your family.

I would suggest a visit to the Social Security Administration’s website to pick up a copy of Survivors Benefits: SSA Publication No. 05-10084, May 2004, which explains the payments made to the family of those enrolled in the Social Security Insurance system upon the death of the enrollee.

Social Security is not just a retirement system, something the Busheviks seem to ignore.

If you think you like the Bush plan, you might try a Google search on “Eliot Spitzer”, the Attorney General of the state of New York, who has been assisting the state in covering its budget shortfall by winning large fines from the people that Bush wants you to trust with your money. Mutual funds, insurance companies, brokerages, investment bankers have all found themselves funding the state with their fines.

There is a reason that all investment materials carry some form of this warning:

The price of shares and investments and the income derived from them can go down as well as up, and investors may not get back the amount they invested. Past performance cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance.

Are you feeling lucky?

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1649 – Charles I [Stuart] of Britain beheaded.
1948 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi assassinated.
1968 – Tet Offensive begins in Vietnam.
2005 – Iraqi elections held.

It’s a good thing I don’t believe in karma.

Thanks to Exit Stage Left for reminding me about Tet.

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