Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a bomb blast in southern Baghdad late Sunday, raising the death toll for American forces since start of the war to 4,000, according to the Pentagon.
The grim milestone was reached less than a week after the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion to topple former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and coincided with a spate of violence across Iraq on Sunday that left at least 61 people dead.
Hat tip, JFS for sending this grim information to us.
Read More......
I didn't get a chance to write about this last week, but as we continue to hear complaining about the fact that Michigan isn't having another vote, it's important.
There was just something incredibly unseemly about a group of Clinton supporters offering to raise the money for the Michigan primary re-vote. It literally reeked of trying to buy an election ("Dear Michigan, your vote finally counts because Hillary paid for your election"). I mean, seriously, that sounded like something you'd expect in a third-world dictatorship, not the United States. So for all of Clinton's feigned outrage over no progress in Michigan, the fault lies with her and her wealthy backers:
Michigan officials bear considerable responsibility for the mess they have helped to create, and a revote is one way out, though that looks increasingly unlikely given the political stalemate. But Rendell and Corzine took matters into their own hands without thinking through the consequences. Their letter to Granholm creates the impression that a Michigan do-over would be Clinton-financed contest designed to save her candidacy.
The integrity of the Democratic nomination contest already is in question -- remember, they are supposedly still counting votes in the Texas caucuses that were held on March 4 -- and this only adds to public cynicism.
It does look like Clinton's big dollar funders were going to buy the re-vote. It just looks that way. You have to admit, when Clinton's supporters look like they're trying to buy a new election for her, it really does diminish all that moral outrage she's been spewing about holding fair elections.
(John Edwards, are you paying attention? This kind of profligate spending by monied special interests is exactly the kind of thing you railed about during your campaign.)
Read More......
The shelling started just before 6 a.m., mortar fire shaking buildings and sending early risers in the Green Zone here running for shelter. Sirens went off, and loudspeakers blared, “Duck and cover! Duck and cover!” A thick column of gray smoke rose above the embassies and government buildings in the area.
The early morning onslaught on Sunday was one of the fiercest and most sustained attacks on the Green Zone in the past year, and it ushered in a day of violence that claimed the lives of at least 51 Iraqi civilians and soldiers, including two children.
Great, so it's OK to attack a leading American politician now? Is that what the Chinese government is now saying? While it's a nice diversion from their brutality and criticisms of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dalai Lama, it again shows how unnerved the government is these days. Considering the number of ongoing protests around the country and now this, the previously invincible communist regime is suddenly looking like an overreacting bunch of thugs who haven't quite figured out what year it is. They want the prestige of being on the world stage with all of the money and political clout but they're acting much more like the two bit dictators that are standing by their side.
The more heads they break and the more high profile Western politicians they attack, the more the spotlight will go on this regime. If you are an up and coming factory country, of course you will take full advantage of this situation. All of this said, the China is today acting like the China of yesteryear. The suits they wear are better and they drive nicer cars and they live the jet-setting high life but underneath, they're the same old thugs from another era. Why should we even act surprised that they're beating the hell out of people? That's what comes with the territory when you do business with this regime. Do business elsewhere or live with the embarrassment of enriching thugs.
Read More......
John wrote a post Friday about the Washington Post's evisceration of the claims Hillary Clinton made on March 17th about her 1996 trip to Bosnia vs. what really happened in 1996. She earned "four Pinnochios" from the Post because her version of what happened "is simply not credible."
From the Clinton campaign, we've been hearing a fictional re-write of the trip to Bosnia to burnish her foreign policy cred. Here is how, less than one week ago, Hillary described the harrowing trip:
"I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia... we came in in an evasive maneuver... I remember landing under sniper fire... there was no greeting ceremony... we ran with our heads down, we basically were told to run to our cars... there was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, we basically were told to run to our cars, that is what happened."
Yeah... not so much.
A campaign aide to Clinton, Lissa Muscatine, did write and send her version of the trip to the Washington Post and it was added at 6:45 pm to the article on Friday. Unfortunately for Hillary, Muscatine's version is not quite the same as Hillary's - there was no recollection of the welcoming ceremony actually being canceled, nor of them being forced under fire to run to their cars with their heads down (in fact, video footage, as you shall see, shows no head-down running, but rather, Hillary and company being greeted by an eight-year old child bearing flowers).
Instead, this episode has undermined her credibility. Now, you can see for yourself what happened in Tuzla when Hillary landed -- and the JedReport has prepared the trailer for "Hillary in Tuzla: The Tale of Bosnian Sniper Fire":
Somewhat low key cast on the shows today. A lot of Senators, eight altogether, including Lindsey Graham who accompanied McCain on the taxpayer funded campaign junket to the Middle East.
Again this week, Russert doesn't have any real guests, just panel of journalists -- and Chuck Todd who does know what he's talking about and usually does it objectively.
If you're watching, provide the commentary -- our readers do better analysis than the Russert's gaggle:
ABC's "This Week" — Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.
___
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.
___
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Journalists round table.
___
CNN's "Late Edition" — Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie; Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz.; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Laura Tyson, former economic adviser to President Clinton.
"Fox News Sunday" _ Govs. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., and Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Glenn Hubbard, former chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers; Eli Manning, New York Giants quarterback and member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
- as Bush, McCain and the GOP prefer even today - works so much better. Behold the glorious end result of ignoring Wall Street throwing around billions. Of course, this is only a small percentage of the overall losses related to federal failures but hacking 57% of the company employees is ugly enough to give everyone a taste for the situation.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifRead More......
Making the list of the Easter Eve baptism for adults by the Pope is surely an honor for those chosen. However, anything that is done by the Pope relating to his church and Islam will be viewed under a microscope considering his past comments. Surely the Pope and his advisers knew exactly what they were doing (including the negative fallout in the Muslim world) when they chose a high profile Muslim convert to baptize at the Vatican yesterday. The church can chose the people they like, of course, but sheesh, why do they have to always thumb their nose at others like this? How is this helping to bridge the gap between the Catholic church and Islam? When the church wonders why their numbers are falling in Europe and the US, they can think about actions such as this.
Read More......
