Through two wars on their country we destroyed their infrastructure, and now we say we can do nothing for them about fresh water or electricity? Nothing about the raw sewage in the streets?

It makes the title of this US News article even stranger.

Putting a Human Face on the American Military Presence in Baghdad

BAGHDAD -- Michael Duquette speaks with the slow and methodical cadence familiar to most old New England Yankees. He sports a salt and pepper mustache and uses silence as a soft cudgel to manage a conversation. While some of the more impetuous young infantry lieutenants will badger people into telling them something, even to the point of putting words into their mouths, Duke holds back. He lets the Iraqis fill the intervening silence with their thoughts and worries. It's an old trick--pause long enough, and someone will step in and say something, say anything to break the uncomfortable silence.

Time to talk to Iran

Regardless of what one thinks about the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003 -- and there is much to question in the report -- its practical effects are indisputable. Bush administration cannot take military action against Iran during its remaining time in office, or credibly threaten to do so, unless it is in response to an extremely provocative Iranian action. A military strike against suspected Iranian nuclear facilities was always fraught with risk. For the Bush administration, that option is gone.

That sort of translates into "I don't really believe that report, but I have to pretend I do."

In Florida, Democrats laughed their own primary amendments off the floor.  On the floor of the Florida Senate a few months ago, a Democratic senator introduced an amendment to move the primary to Feb. 5 where it would have kept all delegates for Florida.  It followed the rules set down by the DNC.

That Florida Senator in May wrote Governor Dean about the amendment he had offered.  There is an "out" for states with Republican majorities who "try" to fight back.  

The DNC had the transcript from the floor that day and knew better.  They knew the offer had not even been taken seriously by the senator who proposed it, Steve Geller.

Then way way way down at the bottom...there is teeny weeny little biddy paragraph about the chairman of the Democratic Party going to Pocatello for a fundraiser next week.  Way down at the bottom after they gushed over Beck.

I would love to meet this reporter Kristy Kircher someday. She is quite the little propagandist.  

"The student became violent," said Frank Mercurio, the no-nonsense chief of the Avon Park police. "She was yelling, screaming -- just being uncontrollable. Defiant."

"But she was 6," I said.

The chief's reply came faster than a speeding bullet: "Do you think this is the first 6-year-old we've arrested?"

13 Year Old Arrested In School For Writing On Desk
13 year old arrested

"The "suspect," Chelsea Fraser, says she's sorry for scribbling the word on her desk, but both she and her mother are shocked at the punishment.

"I'm appalled, because here we have rapists, murderers, and you're taking a 13-year-old kid? Wasting valuable manpower to arrest a child who wrote on a desk?" Fraser's mother Diana Silva told CBS 2.

It was the word "Okay" that she wrote.  There is a video.

From The Dark Side, a PBS special about Dick Cheney:

NARRATOR: The NIE was kept in a locked room where Congress could read it, but few did. In mid-October, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Iraqi war resolution. A declassified version of the NIE, known as the "white paper," was prepared by the CIA and released three days later.

Ah, can you imagine what would have happened if only all the Senators had done as Senator Bob Graham begged...and read the NIE about the WMDs in Iraq?  Imagine if we had been right instead of being strong and wrong.

As can be seen from the documentation on this page, one of their tactics was to tie up the meetings for hours until people left. Then they appointed themselves leaders and made key decisions. Once they took over the local leadership throughout the State of Iowa, they could control the state party apparatus. After their success in the Iowa '88 primary, they used the same tactic in several other states -- precinct by precinct.

They use this tactic on the floor of Congress as well. After hours stuff, getting others to leave, etc.

I thought of this today while listening to State of Belief on AAR.  Welton Gaddy said any celebration of the death of the right wing Christians was premature.  I agree.

Olbermann clearly laid out the reason for this prestigious award.  Here is the statement. First, please note that he beat out Neal Boortz and Sam Johnson of TX for the award.

Countdown awards for the worlds' top three worst people

Is this true?  Have I been under a rock?

This land is your land...Not so much any longer

This land is your land, this land is my land. Not so much any longer. Today Woody Guthrie would not be allowed to set foot in many areas claimed by the government. His song is a reminder of what We the People have lost to the infringement of a government that thinks it knows better how to manage our country than we do.

I have so many mixed feelings about her.  On the one hand I realize we had 8 good years with them in the White House, but on the other I have learned so much since that gives me pause.  

Hillaryland...that is really the name.  

Hillaryland...Guide to the Clinton Juggernaut

Family Struggles after Death in Iraq

WASHINGTON - Her daughter was killed by a bomb in Iraq. Eight months later, Susan Jaenke is both grief-stricken and strapped-behind on her mortgage, backed up on her bills and shut out of the $100,000 government death benefit that her daughter thought she had left her.

The problem is that Jaenke is not a wife, not a husband, but instead grandmother to the 9-year-old her daughter left behind. "Grandparents," she said, "are forgotten in this."

But the offices I called were so casually accepting of the fact that Bush said it was necessary.  He had been in office long enough by that time for them to know better than to trust him.

Do you remember when Bill Clinton said:

"I want it to have been worth it, even though I didn't agree with the timing of the attack," Clinton said

Sydney to host Live Earth concert

SYDNEY will host one of a series of worldwide concerts announced today by former US vice-president Al Gore to focus attention on the threat of climate change.

The 24-hour event on July 7 will feature a powerhouse lineup of acts from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Snoop Dogg to Bon Jovi with concerts.