The Blue State

As the world turns, the reality continues in Iraq

100,000 Iraqi civilians have been displaced over the last two months as a result of sectarian violence:

An Iraqi vice president said on Friday 100,000 families -- perhaps somehalf a million people -- are living as refugees because of sectarianviolence wracking the country. Adel Abdul Mahdi gave no sourcefor his estimate, which is much higher than the 11,000 families -- orabout 60,000 people -- which the Displacement and Migration Ministrysaid two weeks ago had fled their homes since late February.

As May rolls around, April has been the deadliest month for U.S. forces so far this year:

The U.S. soldier died about 7:15 p.m. Thursday when his vehicle washit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, the military said. Thatbrought the American death toll for the month to at least 67, accordingto an Associated Press count.

April's death toll is the highest monthly figure so far this year.Last month, 31 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, the lowest monthly tollsince February 2004. At least 2,397 members of the U.S. military havedied since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to the AP count.

Just outside Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. forces raideda house where Hamid al-Takhi, the local al-Qaida in Iraq leader, andthe two other insurgents were hiding, the military said in a statement.

Al-Takhi, known as the "emir" of Samarra, was gunned down whilefleeing the house, and the other two militants were killed while tryingto defend it with grenades, the U.S. military said. After they werekilled, the U.S. troops found a car parked nearby containing a grenadelauncher, rockets, AK-47s, grenades and a shotgun, the U.S. militarysaid.

Even though both the civil war and U.S. deaths are important, a situation has broken out in Nothern Iraq that is extremely critical from a geopolitical standpoint.

Another Dubai deal

It looks like our relationship with the terrorist-supporting country Dubai is still strong, even after the fallout over the ports deal:

President Bush is expected on Friday to announce his approval of a dealunder which a Dubai-owned company would take control of nine plants inthe United States that manufacture parts for American military vehiclesand aircraft, say two administration officials familiar with the termsof the deal.

The officials, who were granted anonymity so they could speakfreely about something the president had not yet announced, said thatthe final details had not yet been set and that Mr. Bush might putconditions on the transaction to keep military technology in the UnitedStates.

But his action is almost certain to attract scrutiny inCongress, because of the political furor that erupted over theadministration's approval of a deal earlier this spring that would havegiven another Dubai-owned company, Dubai Ports World, leases to operateseveral American port terminals through its acquisition of a Britishcompany, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

Military technology is an industry that can compromise a lot of values pertaining to democracy.  So much for talking tough to rogue states.

Mark Warner's popularity grows

With Mark Warner getting only 15% in the latest poll that puts him head-to-head vs Hillary Clinton, you would probably think that the former Virginia Governor is not as popular as some make him out to be.  But all over the country, there is a buzz about Warner.

While Josh Levy of the Cavalier Daily newspaper at the University of Virginia predicts that Indiana Senator Evan Bayh will be the Democratic nominee, he does consider Mark Warner to be a great vice presidential pick:

Enter Mark Warner. He is a rare sight in American politics -- a popularSouthern Democrat. Having left office with an over 70 percent approvalrating, Warner can do something no other politician can do: hand theDemocrats the Commonwealth of Virginia. Even if the Republicans runSen. George Allen, it is doubtful Virginians will forget who savedtheir state's finances. Anyone can count to 270, but the Republicanscannot get enough electoral votes to win the presidency withoutVirginia. On top of that, Warner is a very articulate speaker, hasbusiness connections available to few if any other Democrats and is notafraid to utilize his personal fortune for his campaign. Sincefinishing his tenure as governor, Warner has been flying around thecountry trying to drum up support for his candidacy and elicit campaigndonations.

Yesterday, The Salem News Online brought up the idea of how great it would be if Senator George Allen and former Governor Mark Warner, who dethroned Allen from his Governor position a few years back, might be a match-up to bet on in 2008.

Mark Warner supporters are scheduled to make an appearance at Saturday's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in North Carolina:

Among the attendees at the Democratic party's North CarolinaJefferson-Jackson dinner Saturday night will be a group of peoplepushing former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner to run for president in 2008.

TheDraft Mark Warner group will pass out literature and bumper stickers ata table at the party fundraiser, being held at 7 p.m. at the NorthRaleigh Hilton for prices ranging up to $250.

Warner's "Forward Together" political action committee has raised a few million dollars in the first few months of 2006.

What you need to know about Fitzgerald's big decision on Rove

Even though the blogosphere is going nuts over the potential Watergate prostitution scandal involving members of Congress, there is a huge development out of Washington regarding the CIA leak scandal.  The New York Times reported today that Patrick Fitzgerald is indeed considering whether to indict White House Adviser Karl Rove on perjury charges:

With the completion of Mr. Rove's fifth appearance before the grandjury on Wednesday, Mr. Fitzgerald is now believed to have assembled allof the facts necessary to determine whether to seek an indictment ofMr. Rove or drop the case.

Lawyers in the case said Mr.Fitzgerald would spend the coming days reviewing the transcript of Mr.Rove's three hours of testimony on Wednesday and weigh it against hisprevious statements to the grand jury as well as the testimony ofothers, including a sworn statement that Mr. Rove's lawyer gave to theprosecutor earlier this year. The lawyers were granted anonymity sothey could speak about the internal legal deliberations in Mr. Rove'scase.

A lawyer with knowledge of the case said that Mr. Rove hadknown for more than a month that he was likely to make anotherappearance before the grand jury, and that he had known since last fallthat he would be subject to further questions from Mr. Fitzgeraldbefore the prosecutor completed his inquiry.

The way I see it, there are three factors to pay attention to:

1. Why was Karl Rove removed from his domestic policy role in the White House?  In this staff shake-up, were Rove, his lawyer Robert Luskin and other White House officials predicting that an indictment was imminent?
2. Most legal minds agree that anyone who is called back in front of a grand jury five times is probably in trouble.  Furthermore, he was interrogated for three and a half hours during that last visit -- again, highly unusual.
3. The question of perjury is over whether Karl Rove's defense can rest on his claim that he simply forgot information until he was suddenly remembered, which was his excuse for giving false testimony to the grand jury.  But was it knowingly false, or just ignorantly false?  Over the next few weeks, Fitzgerald will need to make that determination.

From a GOP strategy standpoint, an indictment of Karl Rove would be absolutely crippling to the party's chances this November.  Having Karl Rove in the courtroom, as opposed to in an office formulating campaign strategy, would mean that pretty much no one could rebuild the breech of trust between the GOP Congress and the White House that has been apparent since the Social Security fallout.  In other words, Congressional Republicans and the White House would not be promoting the same message he Rove isn't there.  Remember, message reinforcement (saying the same thing over and over again) has worked for the GOP in the last two major elections.  With the GOP split up into factions, the party's message might be just as blurred as the Democrats' message was in 2002.

And even more significantly, Rove's indictment would be a public relations nightmare for the party and a Thanksgiving feast for the press.

Watergate prostitution scandal might involve members of Congress

Last night when I was watching MSNBC's evening show "Scarborough Country" I heard that there was a prostitution scandal in Washington involving members of Congress.  But what made me nearly spill my beverage was the fact that the destination where the investigation is centered around is none other than the Watergate Hotel.

To make things more interesting, this might even have involved a lobbyist for jailed Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Here is a transcript and video from that episode of Scarborough County.

And no Republicans, this is not the same thing that Bill Clinton did.  Nice try though!

A few more days without a computer

This is the fourth day in a row that I have been updating this web site from a school computer.  Apparently my home computer needs a new hard drive.  It has been ordered, and it is currently at some distant airport in the United States.  Until then, I cannot use my home computer until about Monday or Tuesday at the latest.  So if you visit this site on Saturday or Sunday and are alarmed by the fact that this web site is not updated, I'll have it updated by Monday.

I'll make a few more posts for Friday, depending on how much time they take.

If the 2008 Democratic primary were today

The numbers are in for the Democratic primaries in 2008 -- and we know they don't mean anything yet:

"Now, suppose the 2008 Democratic presidential primary were     being held today between Hillary Clinton and [see below], for whom     would you vote?" If unsure: "Which way would you lean as of today?"

Hillary Clinton - 57%, John Kerry 30%, Unsure - 11%

Hillary Clinton - 52%, John Edwards - 33%, Unsure - 12%

Hillary Clinton - 66%, Mark Warner - 15%, Unsure - 17%

Hillary Clinton - 57%, Al Gore - 29%, Unsure - 12%

This poll was only given to registered Democrats.

You can pretty much bet that by the end of next year many more people will know who Mark Warner is.

What people were saying when Bush declared "mission accomplished"

As we near the three-year anniversary of President Bush declaring "mission accomplished" on-board the USS Abraham Lincoln, here is an excerpt from a discussion on Hardball that very day:

MATTHEWS: Ann Coulter, you're the first to speak tonight on the buzz. The president's performance tonight, redolent of the best of Reagan -- what do you think?

COULTER: It's stunning. It's amazing. I think it's huge. I mean,he's landing on a boat at 150 miles per hour. It's tremendous. It'shard to imagine any Democrat being able to do that. And it doesn'tmatter if Democrats try to ridicule it. It's stunning, and it speaksfor itself.

MATTHEWS: Pat Caddell, the president's performance tonight on television, his arrival on ship?

CADDELL: Well, first of all, Chris, the -- I think that -- you know,I was -- when I first heard about it, I was kind of annoyed. It soundedlike the kind of PR stunt that Bill Clinton would pull. But and then I saw it. And you know, there's a real -- there's a real affection between him and the troops.

And then later that day on the show "Countdown":

MATTHEWS: We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical,who's not a complicated guy like [former President Bill] Clinton oreven like [former Democratic presidential candidates Michael] Dukakisor [Walter] Mondale, all those guys, [George] McGovern. They want a guywho's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president.It's simple. We're not like the Brits. We don't want an indoor primeminister type, or the Danes or the Dutch or the Italians, or a [RussianFederation President Vladimir] Putin. Can you imagine Putin gettingelected here? We want a guy as president.

The news watchdog group "Media Matters" has an entire section devoted to the media's spinning of "mission accomplished" in May of 2003.

$300,000,000,000 and 2,400 deaths into it, and no investigation needed

Pat Roberts, Republican Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has done it again.  Today he blocked the Democratic effort to subpoena Bush's war cabinet and put them under oath in order to get to the truth about prewar intelligence, according to the Raw Story web site:

The Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hasdenied Democratic attempts to interview Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice, former CIA Director George Tenet and two former senior aides toerstwhile Secretary of State Colin Powell, RAW STORY has learned.

Intelligence Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) sought tointerview Rice, Tenet and Powell's aides as part of a Senate inquiryinto whether public statements by Administration officials about Iraqwere corroborated by intelligence information. Recent reports –including one last Sunday from a former CIA chief in Europe – suggestthat the Bush Administration was warned that Iraq did not havesubstantive weapons of mass destruction.

Rockefeller expressed his desire to interview roughly twentyAdministration officials in a private letter to Sen. Roberts inJanuary, though the names of the officials cited in the letter were notmade public until today. In addition to Rice and Tenet, Rockefellersought access to Lawrence Wilkerson, formerly Powell's chief of staff,and Richard Armitage, formerly Deputy Secretary of State.

Rockefeller's spokeswoman said the senator wants Committee staff tointerview Powell aides about the Secretary's speech to the UnitedNations, in which he outlined Iraq's alleged threat.

"In areas where there is multiple and contradicting underlyingintelligence it would be helpful to ask the person what they basedtheir statements on," said Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for Sen.Rockefeller. "It would make sense to talk with Powell and his aides tofind out what intelligence they used to support their statements."

Remember the Truman Commission after World War II?  Since the Iraq war began, there has been no Congressional investigation by the GOP legislative majority regarding the intelligence that sent our sons and daughters into harm's way.  Almost $300,000,000,0000 and 2,400 deaths into the war, and we still don't know the truth.  How much more will we have to pay before an investigation?  How many more soldiers will have to die?  What is the threshold?  $1 trillion?  5,000 deaths?  So much for the "Contract with America".  It looks like that contract was breached a long time ago.

Corruption list, and change waiting in the distance

Over at Sans-Culotte.org, the author put together a list of all the corruption scandals in the GOP.  As imagined, there is quite a trail of it.  The list nearly reaches 30!

It's no wonder that in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll, by a 45% to 39% margin, the country wants the Democrats to take back majority in both the House and Senate.