The Blue State

Widespread chaos reported all over Iraq

I hate to say that this is the last straw that will determine the outbreak of civil war, but it is looking more like that might be the case.  Today, a series of suicide bombings put what was a genuine effort over the last few days by political coalitions to speak out against the violence.  66 people were killed in today's attacks.

But that's just part of all the turmoil in Iraq today.  Here's a run-down by Reuters news of all the security incidents over the last 24 hours:

          ** BAGHDAD - A blast echoed across Baghdad on Tuesday night after a series of car bombs and mortar attacks which left at least 60 dead in the capital on Tuesday.         

          BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government said a total of 379 people have been killed and 458 wounded in violence since Wednesday's bombing of a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Samarra. There have been several other attacks since the figures were released.          Police put the total number of deaths at 32 and said 80 other people were wounded in all three attacks.         

BAGHDAD - A mortar round fell near the TV station run by the Iraqi Islamic Party wounding two senior employees, police sources said.

** BAGHDAD - At least 23 people were killed and 45 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a Shi'ite mosque and market north of Baghdad, police said.         

BAGHDAD - Two mortar bombs fell in north Baghdad wounding 10 people, police said.   

BAGHDAD - A Defence Ministry adviser escaped an assassination attempt when a car bomb exploded in northeast Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said. It said five bodyguards were killed and seven wounded but the adviser escaped unharmed.         

KHALIS - Four policemen were killed when their patrol was ambushed by gunmen near Khalis, 60 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.         

HAWIJA - A woman and her 2-year-old child were injured when two insurgents opened fire on a U.S. military convoy in the city of Hawija 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk on the main oil pipeline route, the U.S. military said.         

BAGHDAD - Three bombs hit Baghdad, two in the east and one in the centre of the city, police said. At least 23 people were killed and 51 wounded in one bombing while queuing at a petrol station in eastern Baghdad, police sources said. Reuters photographer Ali Jassem counted at least 10 bodies after a blast destroyed a car on the main street of the Karrada district in downtown Baghdad. Police said five were killed in that incident.         

TIKRIT - A bomb damaged the dome of the mosque over the grave of Saddam Hussein's father in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police and officials said.

AMARA - Two British soldiers were killed and a third wounded in an attack on their patrol in Amara, 360 km (230 miles) southeast of Baghdad, the British military said. British troops were later stoned by youths near the scene.         

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire west of Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said.         

BAQUBA - Nine bodies of shooting victims were found in the hamlet of Tarfaya, south of the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, the army said.         

FALLUJA - The bodies of two civilians with multiple gunshot wounds were found north of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.         

KIRKUK - A car bomb exploded as a police patrol passed in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, wounding three civilians, police said.         

BAGHDAD - Interior Ministry sources said a Sunni Arab mosque was damaged by a bomb.         

SAMAWA - Iraqi police caught a Saudi insurgent named Abdulla Salih Salih in Samawa 270 km (170 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraqi state television reported. Iraqi Interior Ministry forces yesterday captured a senior aide to al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Ramadi, Iraqi state TV said on Monday.

Lastly, there is a study that came out today that indicated one out of every ten American veterans of the Iraq war suffer from some sort of a "mental problem," according to a report in the AP.

I just got done talking to a former junior high school classmate of mine on the bus who got back from Falluja less than one year ago.  He told me that the situation is getting better of there, not worse.  Granted, he is a Republican, so he might have a special motivation in saying that.  Granted, he said FOX News was the only network portraying the war as he saw it (I tried not to laugh).  So things could have changed for the worse since he left.  Or, maybe he is right.  He also did say that the citizens of Falluja he encountered, especially the young ones, welcomed U.S. soldiers into their community.  After all the bad things that have been going on in Iraq over the last two weeks, it was nice to hear a little bit of good news for a change.

Bloggers threaten status-quo Democratic Party establishment

The Nation magazine has a article from a few days ago about the effort by the owners of the Daily Kos and MyDD web sites to take back the Democratic Party:

Armstrong and Zúniga characterize the party's coalition structure asmore of a "gaggle" of single-issue constituency groups than a coherentmovement. Primary campaigns are dominated by "single-issue dogmatists"who place "too much emphasis on what the party can do for them and notenough on what they can do for the party." This charge is leveledagainst environmentalists, labor unions and even the dejectedprochoice organizations that just lost two Supreme Court confirmationbattles. Channeling Hillary Clinton, the authors call on Democrats tosimultaneously protect legal abortion and "acknowledge that abortionsrepresent a failure" requiring "viscerally disturbing procedures."Since so few Democratic leaders publicly challenge the prochoicemovement's strategy, even when it fails, this argument is constructive.Yet many people will resent being told to soften their language indefense of a fundamental and constitutional right. While it is hard toprove which language is most persuasive, Crashing the Gate alsomakes a compelling case that single-issue groups' purist demands onDemocratic candidates have a tendency to backfire, sidelining viableprogressive candidates and insuring Republican victories.

The Washington establishment is just afraid of losing power, even if that increases the likelihood of the Democratic Party being more of a majority movement once again.

Pentagon refuses NYT desire for spying memos

The New York Times wants documents from the Pentagon that elaborate on who they were spying on.  The nation's most recognized newspaper wants the internal memos so bad that they are suing in court.  You can rest assure that the Pentagon will resist this as far as legally possible. 

Besides, part of the reason why the Pentagon does not want the New York Times to know who was spied on is probably because the newspaper staff were probably on the list!

High court to determine whether DeLay's redistricting broke law

Tom DeLay's Texas redistricting operation in 2002 was very controversial because it used race as a factor to re-draw Congressional boundaries.  Now the case is headed to the Supreme Court. 

The big question, as will be the question in many future Supreme Court cases now that the Judicial Branch is conservative-leaning, is which way will Justice Kennedy side?  He will be the tie-breaking vote in this redistricting case, just as he will play a similar role in the South Dakota anti-choice case months from now.

So let's see whether the Court agrees with the Justice Department staff that Texas "has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect."

Bush wants to shut down AmeriCorps

This is sure to cause tension between the Bush and Clinton families:

President Bush, who embraced AmeriCorps as part of his"compassionate conservative" agenda in 2001, now wants to shut down apart of the national service program that his administration has deemed"ineffective."

Beginning next year, the White House would reducefunding for the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps from $27million to $5 million with the goal of closing it down, according tothe president's budget. About 81 full-time staff members would losetheir jobs.

AmeriCorps, established in 1993, was one of the main cornerstones of Clinton's vision for a renewed national emphasis on public service.  To get youths involved in their communities is more relevant today than at any other time, especially with how much improvement is needed in a vast majority of depleted local communities throughout the country. 

It's about priorities.  Some value public service.  Some value a tax cut for people like Paris Hilton.  We know where this President stands.

Stakes raised in China-Taiwan conflict

Taiwan's move to withstand the imperial economic offensive from China just entered it's latest hurdle.  The Christian Science Monitor has a report on how Taiwan, a strong U.S. ally, just abolished the China reunification committee.  This came even after the United States asked him not to do so out of fear that it might once again incite tensions between the two neighboring countries.  It is important to note that Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian was elected on a pro-independence platform, which is putting geopolitical pressure on China to then respond by implementing an aggressive campaign to annex Taiwan via economic starvation.

Just in case you are not familiar with the continuing conflict between Taiwan and China, here is a PBS overview of the matter.

Obviously, the United States does not want a conflict to erupt.  At the same time, we can't just sit around as China out-maneuvers us on the economic front, allowing them to increase their sphere of influence over East Asia.  Simply putting it, the Bush Administration is asleep at the switch in Asia.  China is our number one competitor in that region, and must be thwarted from outflanking Taiwan -- which can be added to Japan and South Korea as our most important allies in the region.

Thune added to list of ethically challenged Republicans

The corruption in Washington today is largely a result of the "K-Street Project" -- a strategy put forth by Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay that effectively tore down black and white barriers between lobbyists and lawmakers.  It is typical for retired lawmakers to become lobbyists.  Any lobbying firm would want to hire them, especially since they would have personal connections with their former Congressional colleagues.

But what is highly unusual is for the opposite to happen -- lobbyist becoming a lawmaker -- a scenario that played out with Republican John Thune of South Dakota.  He formerly worked for Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad.  According to Tuesday's New York Times, Thune is trying to pass through the Senate a very pricey government loan to his former company:

Last year, his first in the Senate, Mr. Thune wrote language into atransportation bill expanding the pot of federal loan money for smallrailroads, enabling his former client to apply for $2.5 billion ingovernment financing for its project.

The newspaper also says that the issue will be debated today on the Senate floor.  Please e-mail John Thune and tell him to stop acting like Dick Cheney, and do the ethical act of permanently separating himself from his former company (in the e-mail, say that you live in South Dakota or else you will not get a reply).

Spying by any other name

(Courtesy of Andrew Wahl, The Wenatchee World, OffTheWahl.com)

Bush's approval rating down to 34%

Absolutely devastating news coming from CBS News about President Bush's job approval rating, according to polls just released.  It has reached its lowest level of any time during the Bush presidency.  Look at the numbers:

• Job Performance: 34% (42% last month)
• Handling of Iraq: 30%
• Handling of Katrina Victims: 32%
• Doesn't Care about People Like Me: 51%
• Handling of Terrorism: 43%

Gee, I wonder why Americans could be so upset at Bush right now: Port Security, Iraq, Abramoff, warrantless wiretaps, Libby, Cheney, Iran, no bin Laden, and the list goes on.

Oh and by the way, Cheney's "Favorable" rating is down to 18% -- getting near Bob Taft territory.

Administration went ahead with Dubai transaction even with "intelligence gaps"

A Guard Guard intelligence assessment of our ports said this:

"There are many intelligence gaps, concerning the potential for DPW(the Dubai company) or P&O (the British firm) assets to support terrorist operations, that precludes anoverall threat assessment of the potential" merger...The breadth of the intelligence gaps also infer potential unknown threats against a large number of potential vulnerabilities."

This is just the declassified bit of the intelligence assessment.  The Executive had knowledge about all these "intelligence gaps", yet still went ahead with the transaction involving a firm that is backed by a country in the Middle East that supports terrorism.