Blue Radar

As I post each morning, here are some of the political stories thatmight not be worthy of their own posts, but are nonetheless newsworthy:

• Burglars broke into Senator Chris Dodd's (D-CT) office on Saturday, "taking undisclosed items and leaving evidence at the scene," according to the AP.  (I will keep a close eye on this story!)
• Barack Obama, Sam Brownback and Ron Paul are unveiling the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.  According to the Washington Post, the measure would create an "online search engine that allows citizens to look up any company,organization or other entity receiving federal contracts, grants andearmarks."  (Full disclosure.  Not so bad in these corrupt times!)
• The Iraqi government reached an agreement late on Sunday to release thousands of Iraqi prisoners and reform a law barring Baath Party members from joining the government.
• Nouri al-Maliki criticized Democratic lawmakers for pointing out the lack of progress in Iraq on the political front.  "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one oftheir villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin," Maliki said.  (Maybe because we have spent $500 billion on an investment that has backfired in our face.)
• The new National Geographic program "Road to War" revisits the politicking and planning in the run-up to the Iraq war.  The program will be shown on Sunday, September 2nd.
• On Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell predicted that President Bush will call for a new direction in Iraq: "But I think it’s entirely possible that the president will lay out astrategy that takes us into a different place, which hopefully, at theend of the day, ends up with some American troops forward deployed inthe Middle East at the end of this draw down that many of us areanticipating over a period of time."  (Don't bet on it!)
• First Lady Laura Bush, who is undergoing physical therapy for a pinched nerve, will not join President Bush on his trip to Australia in early September.
• When asked whether he would oppose President Bush's surge strategy after Petraeus testifies on September 11th, Warner replied, "It’s an option we all have to consider."  Warner added that "the Maliki government has failed."
• Barack Obama rallied younger voters in Lexington, Kentucky on Sunday.  More than 1,800 showed up at the campaign event.  "You didn't come out here today because you are against something -everyone is against something; everyone has something to be cynicalabout," Obama said. "Just like citizens in other parts of this nation,you are here because you want to be for something."

If we left something out, it's because we either wrote about ityesterday or are scheduled to do so in an individual post later today. Otherwise, feel free to add any stories in the commentbox.

Comments

[Spaniard]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/gonzales_resigns

[Spaniard]

Gonzales has resigned

[Granny]

On Malaki: "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin," Maliki said. (Maybe because we have spent $500 billion on an investment that has backfired in our face.)"

IMAGINE! The nerve! Thinking that our "investment", which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians (CIVILIANS!); Over the millions mark, in numbers of Iraqis who have had to flee their own country to preserve their lives; The virtual destruction of the infrastructure, the sites and artifacts of their cultural heritage, and the very land that was their home; Importation into the country of Al-Qaeda; the "contribution" of all those corrupt, incompetently constructed, and useless "reconstruction' projects OUR citizens profited from; - all THAT, doesn't entitle the United States to take a proprietary, even imperialistic attitude toward them!?

Uh. Such ingratitude, criticizing like that!