Category — Uncategorized

Of course, Dr. Cole has his round-up, Iran Brokers Call for Ceasefire; Bush reduced to Irrelevancy in Iraq; Fighting Continues, and Noah Shachtman of Danger Room has a nice catch in his post, Is Iraq Still an Insurgency?

My reading is that Prime Minister al Malaki is the biggest loser. He launched this attack and it failed to achieve anything; his own party, Da’wa, and ISCI had to ask their Iranian sponsors to intervene; he is left isolated and will eventually be thrown under the bus.

The US is also a loser, because the force it trained and supported was ineffective, and it’s support killed more civilians, which is not good for a “hearts and minds” campaign.

Iran stayed neutral, but once again demonstrated that it is the power in the region when it comes to Iraq. It has been a major backer of ISCI and the Da’wa party, but it can also talk to al Sadr, so it may shift its support.

[Read more →]

Another of the Shrubbery’s appointees is resigning to spend more time with his family legal team according to this press release from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced today he will be stepping down as the nation’s chief housing officer” so he can figure out how to stay out of prison for any number of his activities during the last seven years.

The guy has been blatant, and hasn’t been called on this crap. He is part of the failure to deal with Katrina, and hasn’t been doing anything about the mortgage meltdown, which falls right in the middle of his area of responsibility. Maybe we can’t finally determine how many contracts you can engineer for friends and relatives before it’s too many.

The BBC reports on one state’s attempt to deal with the uninsured: Oregon’s healthcare lottery

In what is believed to be the first such move, a US state is running a lottery in which the prize is health insurance.

With some 45 million Americans uninsured, how to pay for medical treatment is a big issue in this year’s presidential election.

Now officials in Oregon say they have come up with a fair way of providing coverage for some of those who cannot afford it.

Gives new meaning to the expression “your number is up”.

This is how we deal with life and death in the United States, by luck of the draw? If you win you live; if you lose you die after going bankrupt. Why is this acceptable?

Dr. Cole has his daily update on the situation, Mahdi Army Unsubdued; Iran asks for End to Fighting, that includes a Los Angeles Times piece in which the ISCI admits the government actions are about the elections.

The BBC reports that al Sadr seems to be calling for a truce in their piece, Iraqi cleric calls off militias, but there are conditions in this call. The Iraqi government has to release Sadrists who have been picked up by security forces lately and accept al Sadr’s “framing” on the situation in Iraq.

Moqtada al Sadr may be a thug, but he’s not stupid. His forces have been targeted for weeks and he has been trying to keep a lid on things. That was interpreted as weakness and the ISCI attacked him. The ISCI/Badr/Iraqi government forces were unable to win against the Mahdi Army, even with air and artillery support. The Mahdi Army has already won the important “hearts and minds” battle, so there’s no need to lose more fighters. The ISCI/government can’t sustain this operation and he has given them an opportunity to end the pain.

The remaining question is whether the ISCI is ready to admit defeat while starting the political spin for US consumption.

Another of the Shrubbery’s staff is resigning to spend more time with his family legal team according to the Associated Press: Bush aide resigns for alleged wrongdoing

WASHINGTON – An aide to President Bush has resigned because of his alleged misuse of grant money from the U.S. Agency for International Development when he worked for a Cuban democracy organization.

Felipe Sixto was promoted on March 1 as a special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and stepped forward on March 20 to reveal his alleged wrongdoing and to resign, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Friday. He said Sixto took that step after learning that his former employer, the Center for a Free Cuba, was prepared to bring legal action against him.

Stanzel said the alleged wrongdoing involved the misuse of money when Sixto was an official at the center.

It’s a good thing that people who work at the White House go through those extensive background checks. 😈

McClatchy reports that Iraqi leader threatens fight ‘to the end,’ as militia puts up fierce resistance

BAGHDAD — As gun battles raged in the southern port city of Basra, parts of Baghdad and neighboring provinces, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki in effect declared war on Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army, saying he’d fight the militia “to the end” and never negotiate.

In Dayton, Ohio, on Thursday, President Bush praised Maliki’s “bold decision” to confront Shiite militias and said it was evidence that the Iraqi military is increasingly confident and able to act on its own. In fact, the U.S. military is providing air cover, embedded advisers and ground reinforcements for the Iraqi offensive.

Three days into a U.S.-backed government offensive, however, the Mahdi Army retained control of key neighborhoods of the southern port city of Basra and was able to prevent Iraqi soldiers and police from penetrating its strongholds.

[Read more →]

According to the reporting of the Charlotte Observer the “accidental” discharge of a firearm on that US Air flight pierced the cockpit wall. They have pictures.

The good news was that the aircraft was in descent and at 8,000 feet when the weapon was fired, so there was no problem with pressure loss.

As for the expert who doubts a single round could bring down the aircraft – what happens if it hits a control computer, or the wiring?

Understand that I have a personal aversion to bullets penetrating aircraft. It is not a pleasant experience.

Sharon Weinberger of Danger Room writes about the attempt to change reality: Terror Tourism? What Terror Tourism?

A Jerusalem Post opinion piece that attempts to rebut a series of stories on “terror tourism,” has at least one major problem: one of the rotating advertisements next to the piece, is, in fact, for a terrorism tour of Israel. Oops. Calev Ben-David says the series I co-wrote in Slate rests on the “bogus premise” that Israel would encourage such tours (again, I was somewhat distracted by that large, banner advertisement for the “ultimate tour of Israel,” but oh well)…

Israel is not the monolithic entity that is presented by US politicians and the media. There are voices of dissent in Israel about the methods being used by their government, but those voices are never heard in the US, because anyone who mentions them is painted as a “terrorist-loving anti-Semite”.

[Read more →]

In 1689, John Locke wrote A Letter on Toleration. In the letter, written as a response to certain questions about his religious views, he says:

Who sees not how frequently the name of the Church, which was venerable in time of the apostles, has been made use of to throw dust in the people’s eyes in the following ages? But, however, in the present case it helps us not. The one only narrow way which leads to heaven is not better known to the magistrate than to private persons, and therefore I cannot safely take him for my guide, who may probably be as ignorant of the way as myself, and who certainly is less concerned for my salvation than I myself am.

Locke is not 100% behind total toleration of any religion, but the exceptions are based on conditions that existed in the 17^th century. He was a very influential political philosopher, especially among many of the “founding fathers”.

I’m not going to go into my personal beliefs for the simple facts that they are personal and beliefs. They may not suit you, and if you can’t believe them what’s the point? As Locke says, you can’t force someone to believe something, you can only force them to say they do to avoid punishment. It’s a situation akin to, and all too frequently over time, involving torture.

When politics and religion are mixed, history shows us that religion is always, not sometimes, always, corrupted. Over time it is religion that is altered to suit the needs of politics. Separation of church and state is the best way of protecting religion and allowing people to believe whatever they want. Does anyone really want a judge to decide the meaning of religious texts?

It is Good Friday for Christians and 50 years ago on Good Friday [April 4, 1958] this symbol first appeared on signs and banners in Britain. The BBC gives some of the back ground on the World’s best-known protest symbol turns 50

It started life as the emblem of the British anti-nuclear movement but it has become an international sign for peace, and arguably the most widely used protest symbol in the world. It has also been adapted, attacked and commercialised.

It had its first public outing 50 years ago on a chilly Good Friday as thousands of British anti-nuclear campaigners set off from London’s Trafalgar Square on a 50-mile march to the weapons factory at Aldermaston.

The demonstration had been organised by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) joined in.

Gerald Holtom, a designer and former World War II conscientious objector from West London, persuaded DAC that their aims would have greater impact if they were conveyed in a visual image. The “Ban the Bomb” symbol was born.

Your should revisit Juan Cole’s golden oldie, Fisking the “War on Terror”, and stop by Distributorcap NY for his righteous rant and thumbnail history of the country the Hedgemony destroyed.

People forget that it wasn’t just the history of one small country that was destroyed by the shock and awe, followed by ignoring the looting, it was the history of Western Civilization. For those who remember their Old Testament, Abraham was from Ur, a town in Iraq. Our laws, time keeping, writing, etc. all have their roots in Iraq, and what wasn’t blown up, was carried off by looters.

And people think that “conservatives” honor history and old traditions.

No matter how “oppressed” I might feel about my situation in Florida it is an annoyance compared to the tragedy that is Tibet.

CNN reports Dalai Lama: China causing ‘cultural genocide’

(CNN) — The Dalai Lama on Sunday called for an international probe of China’s treatment of Tibet, which he said is causing “cultural genocide” of his people.

The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet spoke at a news conference Sunday in Dharamsala, India, two days after violent clashes between pro-autonomy demonstrators and Chinese security forces in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

A spokesman for the self-declared Tibetan exile government said it has confirmed at least 80 deaths in Friday’s violence and that protests were continuing outside the capital Sunday, further undermining China’s hopes of a smooth run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. China’s official Xinhua news agency put the death toll at 13.

[Read more →]

31 Gerald Sousa (10)
32 Rick Casillo (34)
33 Jason Mackey (36)
34 Scott Smith (35)
35 Robert Bundtzen (97)
36 Sven Haltmann^r (73)
37 Rohn Buser^r (37)
38 Louis Nelson Sr. (80)
39 Cindy Gallea (82) [Montana]
40 Jon Korta (71)
41 Clint Warnke (15)
42 Robert Nelson (70)^r
43 Rudi Niggemeier (52)^r [Germany]
44 Rick Larson (95) [Montana]
45 Kelley Griffin (86)
46 Bruce Linton (8)
47 Lachlan Clarke (58) [Colorado]
48 Fabrizio Lovati (77) [Italy]
49 Benoit Gerard (91)^r [France]
50 Jennifer Freking (60)^r [Minnesota]
51 Blake Freking (54) [Minnesota]

^r – Iditarod rookie

Deborah Bicknell (21) is at the back in 80^th place on the trail out of Shaktoolik.

Jennifer Freking and her husband, Blake, raise and race Siberian huskies. It was one of her dogs that was killed by a snowmobile earlier.

Ed Iten’s four-year-old male, Cargo, died earlier in the race, but the preliminary examination is unable to determine the cause of death. They will be conducting further tests.

From comments on my earlier post on Rachael Scdoris: apparently she and her dogs are fine, but they couldn’t make any progress on the sea ice, and she decided that scratching was better that wearing out the dogs going nowhere.

Realizing that most people probably don’t have a copy of the New York Penal Law handy [not a bad read, but it lack the plot of the Criminal Procedure Law], if the law enforcement official of the state of New York were interested in pursuing a charge against soon-to-be former governor Spitzer, they would go with that old favorite:

Title M – OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH AND MORALS

Article 230 – (230.00 – 230.40) PROSTITUTION OFFENSES

§ 230.04 Patronizing a prostitute in the third degree.

A person is guilty of patronizing a prostitute in the third degree when he or she patronizes a prostitute.
Patronizing a prostitute in the third degree is a class A misdemeanor.

A class A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 and/or not more than 1 year in jail. [Terms of 1 year or less are served in a local jail rather than a state prison.]

Technically both misdemeanors and felonies are classified as crimes in New York official proceedings. Words have specific meanings in the law. This is so the people who write laws don’t actually have to be able to write, as evidenced by the above example.

The case would be almost impossible to prove in a court without a lot more than the Feds have revealed, and I doubt a DA would bother.

The Federal case may be a bit of problem without proof of the prostitution claim, because the Feds seem to be dealing with the laws covering converting to cash that is then used illegally. They certainly didn’t seem to pursue Limbaugh and his drug purchases with large cash withdrawals, but he’s not a Democrat.