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You and who's army?
2008-04-03 18:09:00
Al-Maliki vows crackdown in Baghdad BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he planned to launch more security crackdowns like the one in Basra against "criminal gangs" in Baghdad.And al-Maliki sounds more like the Bush administration everyday. "We did not make mistakes, but we had points of weakness," al-Maliki said of the performance of the security forces. "We discovered that we have a shortage of appropriate weapons for the fight in Basra which we will work quickly to end."As we saw in Basra al-Maliki can't do it with his Army so you know who's army he wants to do the fighting.
More About: Iraq , Al-Maliki

Too many Christians - Not enough lions!
2008-04-03 17:26:00
Student Sues 'Anti-Christian' Teacher Over Remarks in Class A student and his family have filed a federal lawsuit demanding that a popular European history teacher at California's Capistrano Valley High School be fired for what they say were anti-Christian remarks he made in the classroom.And what were those "anti-Christian" remarks you ask? Farnan recorded his teacher telling students in class: ?What country has the highest murder rate? The South! What part of the country has the highest rape rate? The South! What part of the country has the highest rate of church attendance? The South!? The facts hurt. Of course the teacher left out a few like the highest rate of teen pregnancy and the highest rate of driving while drunk.
More About: Christians , Lions

Rumsfeld of Mesopotamia
2008-04-03 16:41:00
The attempt by al-Maliki to take out al-Sadr in Basra sounds like a repeat of Donald Rumsfeld 's initial efforts in Iraq .U.S. Cites Gaps in Planning of Iraqi Assault on Basra Interviews with a wide range of American and military officials...suggest that Mr. Maliki overestimated his military's abilities and underestimated the scale of the resistance. The Iraqi prime minister also displayed an impulsive leadership style that did not give his forces or that of his most powerful allies, the American and British military, time to prepare."He went in with a stick and he poked a hornet's nest, and the resistance he got was a little bit more than he bargained for," said one official in the multinational force in Baghdad who requested anonymity. "They went in with 70 percent of a plan. Sometimes that's enough. This time it wasn't."And this is significant: The Iraqis, however, also began to fly in supplies and troops using their two C-130s. More than 500 Iraqi replacement soldiers were mo...
More About: Surge

Defining Moments
2008-04-02 22:38:00
"When the Iraqi people stand up, we will stand down."Recent events in Basra and Baghdad, as Ron has been reporting over the last few days, might indicate that we're going to be standing for quite some time.Paltry result of Iraqi offensive quiets U.S. withdrawal talkThe Bush administration was caught off-guard by the first Iraqi-led military offensive since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a weeklong thrust in southern Iraq whose paltry results have silenced talk at the Pentagon of further U.S. troop withdrawals any time soon.President Bush last week declared the offensive, which ended Sunday, "a defining moment" in Iraq's history.That may prove to be true, but in recent days senior U.S. officials have backed away from the operation, which ended with Shiite militias still in place in Basra, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki possibly weakened and a de facto cease-fire brokered by an Iranian general.As this article goes on, it seems clear that people in the Pentagon and the Bush admini...
More About: Moments

Those pesky particles
2008-04-02 06:39:00
I became a big fan of science fiction at the age of 14. I have read all the greats of the past - Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke and even the pure fantasy of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I became an addict of Frank Herbert's Dune series. Of course for much of it to be anything but fantasy everything we think we know about space and time must be wrong. But there is a problem that even threatens trips to the Moon and Mars - high energy particles from the sun.What's keeping us from Mars? Space rays, say experts WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cosmic rays are so dangerous and so poorly understood that people are unlikely to get to Mars or even back to the moon until better ways are found to protect astronauts, experts said on Monday.And NASA is not properly funding the right experiments to find out how, the National Research Council committee said."One of the big issues is they have really cut funding for biology issues," retired space shuttle astronaut James van Hoften, who chaired the committee, said in a...
More About: Science

And about that surging ceasefire
2008-04-02 05:31:00
Now I'm still waiting to hear what John McCain has to say about this but it would appear the Badr-Mehdi ceasefire may have been short lived.No peace in Basra despite Sadr call HOPES for a ceasefire in Iraq 's developing Shia civil war were swiftly undermined yesterday when the Government said it would not stop attacking outlaw militia members, despite an offer from militia leaders to freeze the conflict.Fierce fighting went on in areas of Basra loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, despite the rebel cleric's call to his militiamen to put down their weapons.Sadr's statement was hammered out in elaborate negotiations over the past few days with senior Iraqi officials, some of whom travelled to Iran to meet the Shia cleric, according to several officials involved in the discussions.In Baghdad, mortars continued to slam into the Green Zone government compound.British troops stationed at Basra airport were deployed outside their base at the weekend for the first time, backing up Iraqi forces on t...
More About: Bush administration , Al-Maliki

This universe is old and fat and smells!
2008-04-02 02:54:00
What a great April Fools Day present - Fafblog is back.
More About: Universe , Blogging

Politics, Iraq and spin
2008-04-01 23:07:00
The wingnuts are still trying to spin the Iraq i ceasefire as a loss for al-Sadr and Iran and a win for al-Maliki and the Bush administration. Here is a little reality check for them: It was al-Maliki not al-Sadr that requested the ceasefire not al-Sadr.The Mahdi Army still has all of it's weapons.The Mahdi Army still controls large areas of Basra and Baghdad.The single most popular man in Iraq is al-Sadr not al-Maliki or his government. The al-Maliki government turned to Iran not the US to broker the ceasefire.The real loser may be John McCain.(via Crooks and Liars) For a man who predicates his whole candidacy on foreign policy and the Iraq war, he certainly doesn?t have a clue what the Iraqi government is doing even after he went to Iraq and spoke with Maliki right before the Basra assault took place. How embarrassing for him. McCain was asked if the Basra campaign had backfired, he said: ?Apparently it was Sadr who asked for the ceasefire, declared a ceasefire. It wasn?t Maliki. ...
More About: Politics , Spin

Bowling-Gate Scandal Rocks Heartland!
2008-04-01 13:38:00
Clearly this is the beginning of the end for the presidential aspirations of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and it all began in the tiny hamlet of Altoona, Pennsylvania. As reported at Media Matters, Mr. Obama showed up at the Pleasant Valley Lanes bowling emporium and proceeded to take part in America's favorite sport. The results were nothing less than Earth shattering. The Senator racked up a score of ... (are you sitting down?) ... 37!!!As we all know, competent bowling is a legal requirement for all real Americans. In fact 37 of the 50 states in our country require all citizens to bowl at least four times per year and achieve an average score of 80 or face severe tax penalties and or prison terms. This horrid performance clearly shows that Mr. Obama has been remiss in his legally mandated bowling requirements. The always calm, thoughtful, fair and completely nonpartisan Joe Scarborough was shocked - SHOCKED, I say! - and quickly reminded America of the constitutionally mandat...
More About: Gate , Scandal , Bowling , Heartland , Rocks

The Hog's on the move
2008-03-31 23:32:00
Cernig and the rest of the crew at Newshoggers are moving to a new location. Update your bookmarks and blogrolls.http://www.newshoggers.com/
More About: Blogging , Move

An Early "Virtual Convention"?
2008-03-31 22:54:00
The politico swoops in on something that Ron and I have been speculating about for some time. The possibility that the Democratic super delegates might hold their own virtual convention and let Hillary know that it's time to bow out gracefully.Hoping to avoid a summer-long bloodbath for the Democratic presidential nomination, some party leaders such as Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen have urged a convention of superdelegates in June, after the caucuses and primaries are over.The idea sounds exotic, but recent public declarations and Politico interviews with top Democratic officials have made clear that something like what Bredesen proposed is already underway ? not with a big meeting but with an intensifying series of exchanges among party elites. The early voting in this virtual convention is bad news for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her hope that Democratic leaders will settle the nomination is starting to come true ? with Barack Obama so far emerging as the beneficiary. I still have a ...
More About: Virtual , Early , Convention

Rick Moran on Iraq
2008-03-31 18:39:00
Our friend Rick Moran from The Right Wing Nut House has seen his support for the occupation of Iraq wavering for the last year. This morning he explains why it may be wavering even more.

War Crime Charges? Don't bet on it
2008-03-30 14:59:00
Hat tip to Joe Gandelman for this one. Over at The Daily Dish, we find Andrew Sullivan talking about The War Criminal President. His basic premise is that a laundry list of alarming interrogation techniques (read: torture) used at Abu Ghraib and other places were clearly the intended policy of this administration. A description of several of these practices is included, followed by Sully's conclusion.One day this president and vice-president will be prosecuted for war crimes.I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but that's pretty much beyond the realm of what I can imagine in this world. Yes, it is true that certain national leaders have been taken to task for their actions and faced criminal courts or more "terminal" prosecutions, but it is important to remember that these cases were always the heads of countries who lost. Winners still get to write the history books, at least in the short term.Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Mussolini... these were all people who didn't wind up runn...
More About: Crime

Spreading my evil influence far and wide
2008-03-30 14:14:00
Since I'm sure most of you spend a lot of your day wondering, "How could I get access to even more of Jazz Shaw's pedantic ramblings?" we have some good news. Beginning this week, I will be a regular columnist at Joe Gandelman's excellent centrist blog, The Moderate Voice. I have been invited to join the team of contributors there as the site goes through some application upgrades and personnel changes. I will still be posting here at Middle Earth Journal primarily, but this opportunity should provide a chance to to bring a somewhat wider audience to the work of both Ron and myself - here and on the radio show - as well as making some good connections with other active voices in the punditocracy. Stay tuned for more developments.
More About: Wide , Evil , Influence

The Wild West
2008-03-29 06:05:00
The Republicans have a number of things going against them. A lack of money, a soiled brand name and a President with a 30 percent approval rating. The mountain west has been red for several election cycles but the western Republican is really a libertarian and if truth be known this western progressive has a libertarian side. All you have to do is go over to LewRockwell.com or the CATO Institute blog to discover that the Libertarians are not too crazy about the neocons and the Republican party. In the west that has translated into into this:GOP ACHILLES HEELHOW REPUBLICANS LOST WEST CHEERED as Republicans may be by the Clinton-Obama wars, the fact is that long-term trends still favor the Democrats this fall. To see the problem, consider the interior West - the eight states between the Midwest and the Pacific Coast: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.This week, I spoke at a panel put on here in Denver by the America's Future Foundation, a youth-...
More About: Wild , Wild West

This has Dick Cheney written all over it.
2008-03-28 17:01:00
My first thought was that the decision of al-Malaki to take on the Mahdi Army militiamen was so insane that a madman like Dick Cheney had to be involved. The Washington Post reports: Maliki decided to launch the offensive without consulting his U.S. allies, according to administration officials. With little U.S. presence in the south, and British forces in Basra confined to an air base outside the city, one administration official said that "we can't quite decipher" what is going on. It's a question, he said, of "who's got the best conspiracy" theory about why Maliki decided to act now.Juan Cole disagrees: My reading is that the US faced a dilemma in Iraq . It needed to have new provincial elections in an attempt to mollify the Sunni Arabs, especially in Sunni-majority provinces like Diyala, which has nevertheless been ruled by the Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. But if they have provincial elections, their chief ally, the Islamic Supreme Council, might well lose southern ...
More About: Surge

The Moderate (Radio) Voice
2008-03-28 12:11:00
For today's weekend review edition of Mid Stream Radio (1 pm eastern, 10 am pacific) Ron and I will once again be joined by the always entertaining Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice . We'll be going over some of the week's top stories, including the erupting chaos in Iraq, where some of those well trained Iraqi police forces met the challenge of the Mahdi Army by removing their uniforms and switching sides. We'll also talk about the vacuum of political news as we wait for the Pennsylvania primary to roll around.Remember that you can call in to join the conversation at (646) 595-3963. (A call which is now toll free from most mobile cellular phones.) And you can always join in the lively web chat during the course of the show. (In order to participate in the chat, though, you will need to register for a free user account at the BTR homepage and grab a nickname to use in chat.)See you on the radio!

Political Prisoner Released
2008-03-28 02:56:00
Remember this: Karl Rove had several of his political operatives placed in judicial positions - US Attorneys, Judges etc.They prosecuted Democrats on drummed up charges - made them political prisoners.One of the most obvious victims was Don Siegelman.But we have the beginning of a happy ending:Siegelman to be released from prison MONTGOMERY -- A federal appellate court today ordered former Gov. Don Siegelman released from prison while he appeals his 2006 conviction, but denied co-defendant Richard Scrushy's request to be released.[.....]The judges wrote that Siegelman met both requirements for an appeal bond: He is not a flight risk and his appeal raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial."After thorough review of this complex and protracted record, we conclude Siegelman has satisfied the criteria set out in the statute, and has specifically met his burden of showing that his appeal raises substantial questions of law or f...
More About: Political , Justice Department , Alberto Gonzales , Released

Better Late Than Never?
2008-03-28 02:15:00
I'm feeling particularly generous this evening, for reasons which escape me, so I'm going to toss some benefit of the doubt to Hillary Clinton when she says that she doesn't want Democrats to vote for John McCain.Hillary Clinton pleaded for partisan unity on Thursday, urging Democrats not to abandon their party to vote for John McCain if their preferred candidate fails to secure the nomination.Clinton was asked by a questioner in the audience here what she would tell frustrated Democrats who might consider voting for McCain in the general election out of spite.?Please think through this decision,? Clinton said, laughing and emphasizing the word ?please.??I intend to do everything I can to make sure we have a unified Democratic party,? she said. ?When this contest is over and we have a nominee, we?re going to close ranks, we?re going to be united.?Ok. But you know what? I think I'd find this plea a bit more convincing if she had included the phrase "even if Senator Obama is the ...
More About: Late

If this is success..... Part II
2008-03-27 22:58:00
The other day:St John McBush says US succeeding in Iraq We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground," the Arizona senator insisted a day after a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four U.S. soldiers and rockets pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone there, and a wave of attacks left at least 61 Iraqis dead nationwide.Well it's just getting more successful everyday:Areas of Baghdad fall to militias as Iraqi Army falters in Basra Iraq?s Prime Minister was staring into the abyss today after his operation to crush militia strongholds in Basra stalled, members of his own security forces defected and district after district of his own capital fell to Shia militia gunmen.With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki?s police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground....
More About: Cain , Success , Part , Surge

Politics and Civil War
2008-03-27 17:51:00
When the Bush administration felt threatened by political opponents they used the "Justice" Department to take them out. When the government of al-Malaki felt threatened by the followers of al-Sadr they use the police and the army. Yes elections are scheduled and those currently in power know or fear that al-Sadr will do well in those elections and their hold on power is threatened. The administration has tried to spin the current increase in violence as a sign the surge is a success. The fighting in Basra, and rocket attacks on Baghdad's Green Zone by members of the Mahdi Army militia, have led some analysts to believe the unilateral ceasefire called by the militia's powerful leader Moqtada al-Sadr is falling apart. Among those analysts is Ilan Goldenberg, policy director of the National Security Network, a frequent critic of the Bush Administration's Iraq policy."It looks like it's breaking down. If it is in fact breaking down, and not just a temporary blip, then you could hav...
More About: Politics , Surge , Civil War , Civil

Hillary's Glass House
2008-03-26 23:47:00
Since Hillary Clinton has decided to be critical of Obama's religious affiliations I guess it's only fair to look at hers. I remember this profile of Hillary by Joshua Green a few years back but had forgotten the disturbing information that she was a member of a right wing Washington prayer group. Green rightly thinks it's time to revisit this association and reminds us of the details:Hillary's Minister Problem When I was profiling her two years ago, I learned about her involvement with a secretive Christian organization called The Fellowship that has operated in the Washington shadows since the 1930s. I found the story of Clinton and The Fellowship so bizarre that I made it the lede to my piece. In light of recent events, it's worth revisiting.If you've never heard of The Fellowship (also known as The Family), it will sound like some shadowy organization in a John Grisham novel. (Indeed, as a Google search will demonstrate, critics consider it a cult.) The group was formed in...
More About: Religion , House , Glass

I was wrong
2008-03-26 16:22:00
I can admit when I was wrong. To all of you with Hillary derangement syndrome that I have mocked over the last few months I apologize - you were right, I was wrong!Now we all had great fun mocking John McCain when he embraced the man that had viciously slimed him four years before. Now Hillary is embracing a man, Richard Mellon Scaife, who spent years and millions of his own dollars to slime Hillary and Bill Clinton. This was while attempting to resurrect the Obama's Rev Wright problem that had all but disappeared in order to deflect from her own lapse of memory on Bosnia. Now it gets even worse:Obama And The Jews The Clinton campaign is distributing an article in the American Spectator (!) about Obama foreign policy adviser Merrill McPeak and his penchant for.. well, the article accuses him of being an anti-Semite and a drunk. Principally, the author takes McPeak to task for supporting a Middle East map that would require Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 border. It also makes th...
More About: Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton , Wrong

Why does Hillary hate America
2008-03-26 02:01:00
I supported Hillary Clinton until late January even though I had to hold my nose most of the time. Her campaign tactics became too much for me and I switched. Today it became obvious to me that she would much rather see a President John McCain than a President Barack Obama in spite of the fact that would be a disaster for the country and the world. Just when it appeared that the Wright issue had become old news Hillary brings it up in an obvious attempt to draw attention from her Bosnia lies at a time when her own campaign thinks she only has a five or ten percent chance of getting the nomination.Clinton: Wright 'would not have been my pastor' Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a wide-ranging interview today with Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporters and editors, said she would have left her church if her pastor made the sort of inflammatory remarks Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor made."He would not have been my pastor," Clinton said. "You don't choose your family, but you choose w...
More About: America , Hate

Jazz at The Moderate Voice
2008-03-25 19:56:00
Jazz's column below also appears as a Guest Voice over at Joe Gandelman's The Moderate Voice.
More About: Jazz

None of the above?
2008-03-25 16:41:00
I have wondered if there was a possibility that a brokered convention might result in neither Clinton or Obama getting the nomination. Since I really don't like either one of them I chalked it up to wishful thinking. So it was with interest I read this:Mark Tomasik: Don't discount Gore-led ticket U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, whose district includes much of Martin and St. Lucie counties, is hoping he won't have to attend the Democratic Party national convention in Denver in August.If he does go, that will mean the Democrats still haven't decided a nominee for the presidential election. And if neither Sen. Hillary Clinton nor Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the nomination by August, Mahoney says we may see a brokered convention, meaning the nominee could emerge from a negotiated settlement."If it (the nomination process) goes into the convention, don't be surprised if someone different is at the top of the ticket," Mahoney said.A compromise candidate could be someone such as former vice...
More About: Al Gore

If this is success.....
2008-03-25 05:47:00
.....I'd hate to see failure!St John McBush says US succeeding in Iraq We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground," the Arizona senator insisted a day after a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four U.S. soldiers and rockets pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone there, and a wave of attacks left at least 61 Iraqis dead nationwide.Now McClatchy sees things a little differently:Is 'success' of U.S. surge in Iraq about to unravel? BAGHDAD ? A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.Simultaneously, in the strategic southern port city of Basra, where Sadr's Mahdi militia is in control, the Iraqi government launched a crackdown in the face of warnings by Sadr's followers that they'll fight government forces if any Sadrists are deta...
More About: Cain , Success , Surge

Where Josh and Big Tent Both Get it Wrong
2008-03-25 00:31:00
There was a rather controversial post today from one our favorite bloggers, Josh Marshall at TPM, purporting that Hillary Clinton's supporters are trying to game the system outside of the rules to put their candidate over the finish line.I imagine playing poker around a table with friends. Player A has a Straight Flush; Player B has four of a kind. Then B says well, sure, if you're counting straights, but if we were adding up the numbers rather than going by straights winning, I'd have won.A similar theory was extolled at KOS. Over at TalkLeft (another excellent blog) Big Tent Democrat retorts that Clinton's strategy is exactly within the rules.Let's focus on whether the rules allow this. The answer is obviously yes, they do. It seems to me that it is Obama supporters like Markos who are complaining that the rules MAY NOT favor Obama. It is they who are whining that the rules permit Super Delegates to pick a nominee who is not the pledged delegate leader. I do not like the rule...
More About: Wrong

Disgusted
2008-03-23 04:58:00
I haven't been posting much - the reality is I'm tired of the bull shit. I've been working on my art and reading Science Fiction instead. I already know that McCain is a dangerous idiot so more evidence of that only bores me. I'm fed up with the Democratic primary campaign although I still think Obama is the best choice but best isn't always all that great. What really disgusts me though are the infantile supporters of Hillary that say they won't vote for Obama and the infantile Obama supporters who say they won't vote for Hillary. Fine - you will get the country you deserve to have. But guess what assholes it's not what everyone else deserves. I don't deserve it, my kids and grand kids don't deserve it, the people of Iraq don't deserve it, the world doesn't deserve it. This game is far too important for you to take your ball and go home so grow up.
More About: Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton , Insanity

Disgusted - Me Too Edition
2008-03-23 02:56:00
Back in 2000 I bought into McCain's "Straight Talk Express" and gave him a few dollars. I still get several emails a week from the McCain campaign asking for money in spite of the fact I always mark them as spam. Well I'm not alone, Joe Gandelman has a letter from someone just like me. Go read the entire letter but here area couple on snippets I can really identify with. Apparently I receive all of your solicitations and phone calls because years ago I contributed a small amount when you were running in the primary against George W. Bush. As an independent, back then I saw you as someone with integrity and honesty. That is no longer true.[.....]It is not, as you assert, that the presidential race ?will be won on experience, issues and ideas, because that is what separates me from my Democrat opponents.? What really separates you from the Democratic opponents is your embarrassing and disgraceful support of Bush and the Iraq war. You have no valid basis for being president.[.....]Yo...
More About: Edition