For Your Friday Enjoyment

Some links of interest


About the Kaloogian Baghdad Photo flap, over at Sadly No, more pictures peaceful and safe Baghdad have been released.


It appears that John McCain is opposed to a Marriage Amendment except when he favors one, details at Crooks and Liars.


The Green Knight wants to know, why does the media ignore main stream faiths, and focus only on the religious right.

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Kaloogian McCain Religious Right

Former Tom Delay (R-Tx) Aid Expected To Plead

A second top DeLay aid is expected to plead out in the ongoing and ever growing Abramoff influence peddling investigation.

Tony Rudy, the former deputy chief of staff to DeLay, was expected to enter the guilty plea in federal court as part of a deal with Justice Department prosecutors, the sources said. He would be the second former DeLay aide to plead guilty in the probe.

Abramoff, the lobbyist at the heart of a scandal that has rattled top Republicans, has been cooperating in the federal investigation into whether Washington politicians gave his clients favorable treatment in exchange for campaign contributions, Super Bowl tickets and other illegal gifts.

I wonder what tales he will be telling the investigators.


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DeLay Abramoff Republican Culture of Corruption

Earthquakes Hit Iran

Iran has been hit by a magnitude 5.7 - 6.0 earthquake. and aftershocks.

At least 66 people are dead after an earthquake and aftershocks razed villages in western Iran early Friday, and the death toll was growing. Hundreds of people are injured.

This is no where near the severity of the quake that destroyed Bam, but it, like all disasters, does give the US an opportunity. One thing we appear to do well (except at home) is respond to natural disasters. I hope the administration see the wisdom in offering aid and assistance as needed. Even if it is declined, there will still be a positive impact on the population of that nation.

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Iran

A Couple Of Extra Projects At Work

May keep the posting light for a couple of days.

UPDATE
These are not as nasty as I feared, I will be slowed, but not stopped.

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Blogging

Mass. Court Ruling Makes Sense

I think it is unfortunate, but legal.

The court that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize gay marriage ruled Thursday that same-sex couples from other states where gay marriage is prohibited cannot marry here.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in a challenge to a 1913 state law that forbids nonresidents from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be recognized in their home state.

So the battleground remains where it should be, in every state in the land that thinks it is acceptable to decsriminate against homosexuals.


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Gay Marriage

While There Was Good News From Iraq

The bad news continues.

Eight workers from Iraq's main oil refinery in Baiji were shot and killed after their minibus was stopped by gunmen on Thursday, according to authorities in Salaheddin province.

They were among 14 people killed in Iraq from ambush attacks and roadside bombings on Thursday. Three were working at a bakery, two were other civilians and one was a U.S. military member.

The U.S. military also reported Thursday that a U.S. soldier died from wounds received Tuesday.

he civil war in Iraq continues, and there is little reason to hope for an end any time soon.

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Iraq

Some More Good News From Iraq

Jill Carroll, a journalist doing work for the Christian Science Monitor has been released.

American hostage Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist released Thursday in Iraq after nearly three months in captivity, said she was "treated very well" while she was held.

"They never said they would hit me. They never threatened me in any way," she said in a TV interview after her release.

The interview was broadcast by Baghdad Television, a station owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party. It was conducted inside the headquarters of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group.

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Carroll Iraq

Abramoff's First Sentence Is Handed Down

The opening bid is for 5 years and 10 months.

Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a former business partner were sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in prison for fraud related to their 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.

But this is only one of the investigations that Abramoff is part of, those go on.

Abramoff and Adam Kidan, who both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud, won't start their sentences immediately so they can continue cooperating in a Washington corruption investigation and a Florida probe into the murder of former SunCruz owner Konstantinos 'Gus' Boulis.

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Republican Culture of Corruption

Taliban Getting Frisky?

It appears they tried to attack a coalition base in Afghanistan.

Fierce fighting following an insurgent attack on a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday killed 32 suspected Taliban militants and two troops, one American and one Canadian, officials said.

Twelve militants were killed in the initial attack on the base in Helmand province's Sangin district, while another 20 were killed as the insurgents fled, a U.S. military statement said. Two buildings at a Taliban compound were later destroyed, it said.

The battle also wounded three Canadian soldiers, Canadian Brig. Gen. David Fraser told reporters at a base in southern Kandahar city. A U.S. military statement said an American soldier was also hurt.

They, like the Iraqis have, will learn that directt attacks will not work. Then they will have to decide if they want stop fighting, or continue the conflict in more unconventional means.


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Afghanistan

You Have To Love Power Mad Republicans

They don't just think the rules don't apply to them, they know they don't apply them.

Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer has been stopped at least twice for speeding in the past four months, but did not get a ticket. Information obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request shows Bauer was doing 101 miles an hour on Interstate 77 on February 25th in Chester County. Bauer radioed a dispatcher and tried to communicate with a trooper who was chasing him. The speed limit was 70 miles an hour. The trooper pulled along side and asked Bauer's name and left.

Bauer was stopped for going 77 or 78 miles an hour on Interstate 385 in Laurens County the day after Christmas. The speed limit was 65 miles an hour.

He might be a good choice for an appointment in the Bush administration, another collection of Republicans who know that the law doesn't apply to them.




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Bauer SC Republicans

Two Regan Era Advisors Have Died

Both Casper Weinberger and Lyn Nofziger passed on today.

And now, I will follow my grandmothers advice.


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Weinberger Nofziger

Iraqis Want The US To Cede Control

The politicians are steaming over the joint US, Iraq Army attack on a terrorist compound, or Shiite mosque complex (depending on who you ask), and they want to US to give up control of the security operation in the Baghdad area.

IRAQ'S ruling parties have demanded US forces cede control of security as the government investigated a raid on a Shiite mosque complex that ministers said involved "cold blooded" killings by US-led troops.

The play this story is getting in Iraq is devastating for the US position, but we are trying to fight back.

After 24 hours of limited communication, US commanders mounted a media offensive to deny Shiite accounts of a mosque massacre and portray instead a bold and disciplined operation by US-trained Iraqi special forces that killed 16 fighters and freed a hapless Iraqi hostage being held to ransom for $US20,000

"After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different from what it was," Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli said of footage aired extensively on state television showing the bodies of apparently unarmed civilians in a mosque.

"There's been huge misinformation," he said. He insisted he did not know the religious affiliation of the group targeted, although the raid was the fruit of lengthy intelligence work.

It took 24 hours for the US to start to argue it's case in public. The Shia side of the debate has been getting TV play, backing up their side of the story for a full day, and we can not even say we knew the religious affiliation of the very target we attacked.

It sure looks bad, someone has done a great job of controlling the spin on this story, and it has not be us.

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Iraq

Time To Reshuffle The Deck

An expected and recommended step in the effort to make the White House's second term more viable has occurred, the ever popular staff shake-up.

Andrew Card is out.

White House chief of staff Andrew Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Joshua Bolten, President Bush announced Tuesday amid growing calls for a White House shake-up and Republican concern about BushÂ’s tumbling poll ratings.

It will be interesting to see if replacing a man almost no one has heard of can actually improve the poll numbers of two men the nation knows and dislikes or considers corrupt, or stupid.

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Bush Administration Andrew Card

Heck, Why Bother With Arguments At All

Lets just let Antonin Scalia wing it.

Scalia said bluntly that "foreigners, in foreign countries, have no rights under the American Constitution." In reference to detainees receiving civil court trials instead of facing military tribunals, Scalia said of a prisoner, "If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son, and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy."

No, you should treat them according to the Geneva Accords, but since our President has decided that they no longer apply, then you have to establish some level of human rights protection.

Or, maybe, we can just throw them in a black hole and forget them, that seem to the position that Judge Scalia has already decided is best.

UPDATE

A group of retired U.S. generals and admirals has aksed Scalia to recuse himself in this case.
Any bets as to if this will actually happen.
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Rights

Tal Afar, Again

Just last week Bush was pointing to Tal Afar as one of our successes, today the joint US, Iraqi base was the target of a bombing.

Brig. Muhsin Al-Dolaki, vice commander of the 3rd Iraqi Army division at Camp Kasak put the death toll at 17 killed and 30 wounded.

The U.S. military said no American troops were hurt in the suicide bombing about 18 miles east of the ancient city of Tal Afar. The bomber struck shortly after noon at an Iraqi army recruiting center in front of the base.

President Bush singled out Tal Afar in a recent speech as a success story for American and Iraqi forces in the drive to quell the insurgency.

UPDATES

US and Iraqi forces attacked a terrorist cell and killed 16 supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, and an Iraqi doctor has confesed that he was working for Ansar al-Sunna when he used his medical skills to kill 35 injured police.

This last story is from Kurdish sources, so a little skepticism may be warranted, but it is another sign of the growing tensions between the various groups that exist within Iraq.

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Iraq Tal Afar Kirkuk

How To Tell The Shia' Like The Direction Things Are Going

Someone lobbed a mortar at Muqtada al-Sadr.

A mortar round slammed to earth near Muqtada al-Sadr's home Sunday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, but the popular anti-American cleric was not hurt, an aide said.

A child and at least one guard were wounded in the attack, which hit some 165 feet from al-Sadr's home, according to police and al-Sadr aide Sheik Sahib al-Amiri. The aide said al-Sadr was home but was not injured.

And he called for calm.

"I call upon all brothers to stay calm, and I call upon Iraqi army to protect the pilgrims as the Nawasib (militants) are aiming to attack Shiites everyday,"

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Iraq

The War We Should Be Fighting Also Continues

And another US soldier has died.

U.S. and Afghan government troops attacked a group of Taliban on Saturday and seven of the insurgents and one American were killed, an Afghan commander said.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in attacks by Taliban and their militant allies in recent months and the Taliban have vowed to launch a spring offensive against U.S.-led foreign forces and the Western-backed government.

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Afghanistan

The Corruption In Iraq

One company has been fined for it's criminal activity in Iraq, and the gross level of corruption in Iraq is clear for all to see.

Another example of this addition difficultly in the rehabilitation of Iraq has been exposed.

The Justice Department said the translator, Faheem Mousa Salam, 27, of Livonia, Mich., probably acting as an intermediary for others who have not yet been identified, offered tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to people inside the Iraqi Interior Ministry for a contract to provide some $1 million in flak jackets and other equipment to an organization that trains Iraqi police officers.

so, who could he have been an agent for? Well, at least this one was caught.

and

Is our government ever going to do anything to help control this crime.

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Iraq

Some worthwhile Friday Reading

Click over and check them out.


Orcinus is busy exposing the hate of some 'Christians'.


Greybeard over at Bending the Third Rail, has looked at John McCain's hiring of Terry Nelson and ask, is McCain lying or just incompetent.


The Green Knight looks at some of the high points in the body of work of Ben Domenech the Washington Post's new employee.

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McCain Domenech

The Deaths Go On, The Deaths Go On

Bombs keep pounding a rhythm to the brain

No end to Iraq shootings, bombings and killings

Drive-by shootings, roadside bombings and sectarian killings left 28 dead in Iraq on Friday. American and Iraqi troops swept the oil-rich region of Kirkuk for suspected insurgents and captured dozens.

A bombing outside a Sunni Muslim mosque after Friday prayers killed at least four worshippers and wounded 15 people north-east of Baghdad in the city of Khalis, the army said.

Drive-by gunmen killed three police officers in west Baghdad and three power-station workers heading to their jobs in Taji, just north of the capital, police said.

The same story, every day; Iraq's death by a thousand cuts.

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Iraq

Paris Riots, Again

This time it is not disenfranchised Muslims, but this time it is not just the disenfranchised who are fighting.

Trade union leaders, who joined students and school pupils in opposing a new law that would make it easier to hire and fire young workers, accepted an invitation to meet the beleaguered prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, today.

They insisted, however, that they would not negiotiate unless Mr de Villepin withdrew the law, which is due to take effect next month. He has ruled out scrapping the measure and his offers of concessions have been rejected.

The rioters know that the new laws will have a direct and likely undesired impact of the potential quality of life that the youth of France hope for.

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France

And He Is Seen As A Moderate

Afghanistan Cleric Abdul Raoulf had this to say about Abdul Rahman, the Christian on trial for renouncing his Islamic faith.

"He is not mad. The government are playing games. The people will not be fooled," and "This is humiliating for Islam. ... Cut off his head."

And by local standards there is a good chance that Raoulf is a moderate.

That is why our gift of Democracy was not enough. We also needed to supply them with liberty and personal freedom. Without these protections, Democracy is nothing more than the tyranny of the majority.

And that is what they will have in Afghanistan, with Islamic law being allowed to overrule personal freedom.

Just another failure, in a long list of failures, of our current administration.

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Afghanistan

Some Real, Good News From Iraq

Three hostages have been released.

U.S. and British troops Thursday freed three Christian peace activists in rural Iraq without firing a shot, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street.

other points of note.

No kidnappers were present when the troops broke into a house in western Baghdad.

{snip}

the operation to free the captives was based on information from a man captured by U.S. forces only three hours earlier.

{snip}

Straw also gave few details of the operation, saying only that it followed ``weeks and weeks'' of planning.

The Christian Peacemakers, the group these men were working with, also called for coalition forces to leave Iraq.

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Iraq

Ferry Sinkings

They can happen almost anywhere.

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel was still off B.C.’s north coast on Wednesday, scouring the choppy waters for fear there could yet be a missing passenger from a ferry that hit a rock and sank in the dead of night.

The difference appears to be how effective the emergency response is.

“Anytime you have a major incident and you have no one hurt or killed in this type of thing, I think you always think it’s a miracle,” David Hahn said. “You always think, thank God, and you (are) thankful for the crew. That’s what they’re trained to do. They’ve done their job once again.”

UPDATE
Ferrys Sink, this time in Cameroon

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Canada

Carol Crooks, Come On Down

You need to take another stab at Middle School.

Carol has written into the Greenville paper to denounce evolution. Her letter is interesting, and clearly shows she has no understanding of science at all.

The theory of evolution does not and cannot explain so much about the universe that we know. For instance, when and how did water evolve? How does it happen that gravity can hold us to the Earth, and at the same time allow us to step up without any trouble? How did it happen that the Earth is spinning at the exact rate that keeps us from feeling that movement?

Nor will the theory of evolution ever be able to explain water, gravity, or anything other than aspects biology, and evolution. That is the way science works, a theory will focus on a single subject, not every subject.

No wonder the Christian exodus people are looking so kindly upon Greenville. It is already pre seeded with people who just do not understand, anything.


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Intelligent Design

A Terror Group Backs Down

E.T.A. Call for a Cease Fire.

The aim of this decision is to promote a democratic process in Euskal Herria [the Basque Country] in order to build a new framework within which our rights as a people are recognised, and guarantee the opportunity to develop all political options in the future.

At the end of this process, Basque citizens must have a say on their future.

It is interesting how political developments, not brute force, may have been the driving force in ending the violence.

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ETA Spain Terrorism

We Are In Iraq For, Forever?

He finally admitted what many have suspected for a while, we are not leaving Iraq any time soon.

President George W. Bush said Tuesday that U.S. forces will remain in Iraq for years and it will be up to a future president to decide when to bring them all home.

Can we afford to keep spending 11 Million dollars an hour for the next 3 years?

And the bigger question, in the end will it make any difference?

I think the answer to both is no.


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Iraq

Tal Afar Is A Success?

That is how George described it yesterday.

President Bush on Monday held out the northern Iraqi city of Tall Afar as an example of U.S. success in the war, but he also acknowledged in remarks that were as grim as they were hopeful that the city's improvements were not matched in other parts of Iraq.

{snip}

U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major military offensive against the insurgents last fall, including the construction of an 8-foot dirt wall around the city to cut off escape routes. After successful combat operations were over, Bush said, more than 1,000 Iraqi forces were deployed to keep order.

"In short, you see a city coming back to life," Bush said.

unfortunately, the story doesn't end here.

But lately, residents say, the city has taken another dark turn. "The armed men are fewer," Nassir Sebti, 42, an air-conditioning mechanic, told a Washington Post interviewer Monday, "but the assassinations between Sunni and Shiites have increased."

So after having to attack the city twice, build a wall around it, and place a large force near by, it is still a city dealing with civil war and overt lawlessness. In addition, the plain truth is, this is a tactic that we do not have the force capacity to do except in a few select places. So even if, with time, it shows more real positive results, we lack the manpower to replicate it. If we withdraw our support force, Tall Afar will again be lost.

This conflict of perspective, where the administration claims victory (remember 'mission accomplished') where no victory exist, continues to expose Bush as either a serial liar, or just dumb as a post. Either trait is not seen, by most people, as a posititive in a national leader.


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Tall Afar Iraq

The Archbishop Of Canterbury Says

Don't Teach Creationism In Schools.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.

Another wise voice of reason.


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Intelligent Design

And Another Lesson From Vietnam

Don't count on the local forces being able to defeat the insurgents.

The US Military has done an excellent job of forcing the insurgents in Iraq underground. Their direct attacks on US forces almost always end in abject failure. They do not stand a chance against the US military.

That doesn't mean that they are always ineffective.

Insurgents stormed a jail about dawn Tuesday in the Sunni Muslim heartland north of Baghdad, killing at least 17 policemen and a courthouse guard. Authorities said all 33 prisoners in the lockup were freed and 10 attackers were killed in the battle.

{snip}

After torching the police station, the insurgents detonated a string of roadside bombs as they fled, taking the bodies of many of their dead comrades with them, police said. At least 13 policemen and civilians and 15 gunmen were wounded in the attack.

This was an attack against a hard target, and it was very successful. When facing a foe that lacks air power, and high tech detection devices, the insurgents do present a real threat to the government's forces.

The hard truth is it will be years and years before the Iraqi military can stand up to anywhere near he level needed to defeat a widespread insurgency.

One other small point.

If the attackers removed their dead, how does the Iraqi or US government know ten insurgents were killed?




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Iraq Civil War