Carly Simon

Wally's "THIS JUST IN! CHUCKLES ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL!" and Cedric's "Barack's misadventures" (joint-post) covers the campaign beat. Others posting last night sought to highlight favorite films from the eighties. Be sure to check out Rebecca's "st.elmo's fire and heathers," Mike's "Jumping Jack Flash," Marcia's "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," Ruth's "Private Benjamin," Elaine's "Michelle Pfeiffer" and Kat's "The Godfather III, Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" and, though they went up this weekend, let's note Trina's "Garlic Soup in the Kitchen" about the economy and Betty's "Heckle & Jeckle" about Betinna's campaigning for Ralph.

I wanted to open with that from C.I.'s "Other Items." What an interesting range of choices movie wise, by the way. I had three e-mails telling me Godfather III came out in 1990. Oh well. Althought it is very much an eighties movie.

I had many more e-mails thanking me for defending Godfather III. It has a lot of fans and apparently none of us are supposed to ever admit that out loud. It really is a great movie. And I had a big thank you from community member Lynda who "Loves, loves, loves Cher!" and wasn't aware of Come Back To The Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean until last night. She's hunting it down at Netflix as we speak. (I hope it's available on DVD.) (Lynda, if it's not, e-mail me and I'll send you my videocassette copy. Yes, I trust you that much.)


Read Mike tonight, I think he's going to have a pretty important post.

(Based on comments during the roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin.)

In the snapshot, C.I. links to the NPR interview of Carly Simon which I'm listening to right now. Here's what I fault the interview for, it 'plays' a snippet of "People Say A Lot" from the new album. Great! You're thinking, right? Carly singing. No, it plays the snippet of dialogue from All About Eve. The same dialogue the interviewer's already discussed with Carly. Uh, NPR, All About Eve wasn't what you should have played.

It's a really good interview otherwise and Carly explains that "Island" wasn't an easy song for her to record. At one point Ben Taylor (her son, who wrote the song) told her not to worry about it and just leave it off the album. Then she decided to try it in another key and it worked. She talks about her breast cancer and how her sister Lucy was always willing to help but she couldn't take Lucy's help. She could take help from a woman she'd never met (that a mutual friend knew) who'd had breast cancer. She felt comfortable with that and the woman checked in on the phone with her daily. Carly says she tries to be there for other women with breast cancer as a result. I wish "Hold Out Your Heart" because it really is one of my favorite songs on the album. She talks about her first performance as a solo act after she signed to Elektra. The interview's 22 minutes and you should check it out if you're a Carly fan. (And who isn't?) And make a point to get Carly's This Kind of Love. Susan wrote a few weeks back to inform it was now at Borders and other stores and not just at Starbucks.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Thursday, August 7, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, no provincial elections for Iraq, excuses for the puppet government's lack of spending, media coverage for Nader, and more.

Starting with war resisters. Agustin Aguayo served in Iraq and refused to load his weapon. Aguayo learned quickly upon arriving in Iraq that 'rules' were out the window as he and other medics were instructed that they would not care for any Iraqi civilians wounded. Seeing it first happened deepened Aguayo's spirituality and his beliefs that the Iraq War was illegal and immoral. He attempted to go through the process where the US military grants you Conscientious Objector status. When the military refused to recognize that he was a CO, Aguayo took it to the civilian courts. A hearing was scheduled in the US Court of Appeals for November 2006; however, the US military informed he would be in Iraq when that hearing took place. To explain physically (he'd already done so verbally many times) that he was not deploying for a second tour of Iraq, Aguayo self-checked out of the US military on September 2nd and turned himself at Fort Irwin on September 26. Despite being AWOL less than thirty days, the US military decided to court-martial him for desertion. March 6, 2007, Aguayo was court-martialed and Aguayo admited he was AWOL but refused the charges of desertion. Col Peter Masteron sentenced Aguayo to 8 months in prison but did allow the 161 days Aguayo had already been imprisoned to count towards time already served. In June, Agustin and his wife Helga P. Aguayo provided updates to the current status. Agustin had hoped to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court (and had every right to -- as well as a strong case, the military's refusal was based on the 'concept' that religion and spirituality are a fixed point and cannot be deepened by life, time or experiences). March 18th the Supreme Court refused the case. Agustin writes, "This mean my case will never be heard by the Supreme Court and my quest for justice failed and I will never be vindicated legally. Although, I have come to accept this and knew of the possibility it has been disheartening. I don't need outside sources to validate me. I know who I am and I know what is in my heart." Helga explains the physical strain of the ordeal:

My health which had been on a steady decline finally deteriorated to the point where my condition of Psoriasis became life-threatening. The stress of fighting the Army and being persecuted for opposing this war had finally caught-up with me. There have been ups and downs to my health but the situation when Augie got back was pretty grim. I think I had been so strong for so long that I was finally able to let go and fall; I knew Augie would be there to catch me. Aside from my condition I didn't realize how badly hurt my family was. Our harshest battle has come from trying to put our family back together, again. My panic attacks were out of control and it almost seemed as if Augie and I picked-up right where we left off the last time we were together: having major panic and anxiety attacks while he jumped out the back window and went AWOL. His PTSD kicked in full force and I was a basket case. Throughout our ordeal, [their twin daughters] Raquel and Rebecca had been strong and fought side by side with us, with poise and courage. But they too, began showing signs of emotional crises. [. . . ] They saw their father be dragged away to prison, convicted and labeled a felon. And then we had to start over from scratch. How were we to begin healing?

Agustin stays busy in a number of ways as he waits for his discharge, "Currently, I am involved in peace work and speak as much as I can to at-risk youth. My wife and I also support many soldiers and their families going through the CO process and/or deployment. For more information on this program click here. To help fund this project click here. And although we still don't have a book deal we are actively working on a book project." At the Aguayos' website you can purchase the documentary A Man Of Conscience about Agustin (by Sally Marr and Peter Dudar) on DVD for ten dollars plus shipping and handling. Agustin had many things all war resisters don't have. He had a mother and extended family willing to stand with him. He had his daughters supporting him. And he had Helga who never backed down no matter how the military attempted to intimidate her into silence. Helga was fierce (and I mean that as the highest compliment) and that's most likely the reason Agustin got credit for time served. She dared one and all not to look at her during the court-martial and not to grasp the way they were terrorizing her family as they attempted to rail-road her husband. If they attempted to steer her husband's case out of the press, she just spoke out louder.

Repeatedly, we've seen that those with a support base tend to fare better in legal proceedings than those without. Of those with, a support base that is highly vocal and does not go away tends to result in lesser sentence.

War resisters in Canada often don't have that built-in support because they've restarted their lives in a new country. But anyone can send the message that the world is watching. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Turning to Iraq, Deborah Haynes (Times of London) sums it up, "The chances of key local polls taking place in Iraq this year all but vanished yesterday after Parliament failed to pass a law on elections because of a row over the contested city of Kirkuk, which threatens to heighten Arab-Kurdish tensions." As China's Xinhua notes, "The Iraqi parliament speaker ended an emergency parliamentary session Wednesday after the political blocs failed to reach an agreement over a disputed provincial election bill. Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said by the end of the 44th session on Wednesday, the parliament concluded its first legislative term and would resume sessions on Sept. 9." (They also note that "supplementary budget of 21 billion US dollars" was ratified "roughly half of the 48-billion-dollar budget of 2008 approved earlier by the parliament.") AFP quotes Qassem al-Aboudi ("administrative director of Iraq's electoral commission") stating, "I can confirm to you that we have lost the chance to hold the elections in October." Ned Parker and Said Rifai (Los Angeles Times) point out, "Iraqi politicians, officials and Western diplomats have speculated that the political parties in government were never invested in holding a vote this year out of fear they would lose seats and influence at the provincial level. Senior politicians -- including President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni Arab -- have been absent from Baghdad during the round-the-clock negotiations, citing medical reasons." Campbell Robertson and Richard A. Oppel Jr. (New York Times) remind, "The elections would be the first provincial balloting in almost four years." At McClatchy Newspapers' Inside Iraq, an Iraqi journalist reflects on the sessions, "I listened to many of them. I noticed that most of them talk about Kirkuk in a way as if its a prey for the greed and abmitions of their parties. They never talk about it as a part of Iraq because they don't care about Iraq. They care only about their limited personal interests."

Meanwhile the socially progressive but economically conservative (honest, that's how it was explained to me a few years back) editorial board of the Dallas Morning News issues a strongly worded comment entitled "Iraq should cover more of its own expenses" notes the GAO and Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction's recent findings about how rich Iraq is with oil money "however, the Iraqi government and legislature continue to bicker about how to disburse that money, while U.S. taxpayers are left to fund roughly $48 billion in reconstruction projects. If something in this picture seems wrong to you, welcome to a growing club, which includes Republican and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill who say Iraq should start paying more of its own bills." The editorial suggest that "Iraq, flush with oil cash, should seize the initiative" on reconstruction "without waiting for this country to demand it." Mark Kukis (Time magazine) quotes Ayad Al-Samariee ("head of the finance committee in the Iraqi parliament") stating, "Yes it's true that the Iraqi government is spending little on reconstruction. The weak Iraqi capability to do big projects, maybe at the end of 2008, will improve." Kukis observes, "Signs of Iraq's slowness to rebuild are everywhere in Baghdad. Roughly 20% of the city is without proper sewage pipes. Published statistics say the Baghdad is getting roughly 11 hours of electricity a day on average, but many residents go days with only sporadic bursts of power. Iraqi officials say fixing just this problem could take up to 10 years. Chronic electricity shortages for another decade mean little energy for construction, making Iraqi hopes for a renewed capital seem distant." Al Jazeera quotes US Senator Carl Levin stating, "The Iraqi government now has tens of billions of dollars at its disposal to fund large-scale reconstruction projects. It is inexcusable for US taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves." CNN quotes Iraqi MP Haider al-Abadi stating, "This is projected and not real money. We have many reconstruction projects and as you know, most of the infrastruture of the country had collapsed after the war and that needs a lot of money to rebuild the country." It's really sad to see an adult so willing to cheapen themselves on the national stage. First off, not all the oil money in the GAO account is "projected." [As the GAO notes, "As of December 31, 2007, the Iraqi government had accumulated financial deposits of $29.4 billion, held in the Development Fund for Iraq and central government deposits at the Central Bank of Iraq and Iraq's commerical banks." And, "From 2005 through 2007, the Iraqi government generated an estimated $96 billion in cumulative revenues, of which crude oil export sales accounted for about $90.2 billion, or 94 percent."] Second of all, when you refuse to repair and supply your country's hospitals and think throwing a coat of paint on the outside qualifies as 'reconstruction,' you ought to hop down from your high horse before you fall off. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board informs that "the source of this surplus is the high price of oil -- money that's added to the pot when we fill our family gas tank." iStockAnalyst observes, "With oil prices at or near all-time highs, it has become increasingly apparent that Iraq is closer than ever to financial independence. With the extreme property damage caused by an invasion of questionable legality, the need for security and reconstruction monies is great, but who should be held accountable? Many US taxpayers are becoming disenchanted, due to the fact that, with nearly $33 billion in oil earnings in the first half of 2008, Iraq is now capable of shouldering an increased share of the burden. Our own economy is floundering and many simply feel that it is time for Iraq to step up and assume control over its own destiny." The Orlando Sentinel's editorial board asks readers to focus on "two numbers: $482 billion and $79 billion. The first is next year's projected federal budget deficit, a record. The second is the budget surplus that Iraq is expected to accumulate by the end of the year. Is there any question which government -- whose taxpayers -- should be footing the bill for reconstruction projects in Iraq?" The Delaware News Journal's editorial board points out that the US government has spent $23.2 billion on Iraqi reconstruction since 2003 while, since 2005, the puppet government in Baghdad has only spent $3.9 billion: "Something is out of whack. Iraqis are very proud to say that it's their country. And they are right. So they should fix it." But as Robert H. Reid (AP) pointed out, "Many Iraqis -- who lack adequate electricity, clean water and jobs -- find it unfathomable their country is awash in oil dollars. Last year, it spent less than a third of the $12 billion budgeted for major projects such as electricity, housing and water." And yet, get ready to laugh, Gina Chon (Wall St. Journal) reports on a press conference held by Dr. Tahseen al-Shaikhi (Baghdad Security Plan) calling for foreign investment and contruction of "five-star hotels, parking garages . . . a theater, restaurant, aquarium and basketball courts . . . casino . . . and boat rides. But given the lagging basic services, reporters questioned whether Baghdad's priorities are appropriate and realistic. With temperatures hittign 130 degrees, many parts of Iraq don't have a steady electricity supply and some areas only get two hours a day. Getting clean water and adequate health care are also major issues." IRIN notes that the puppet government in Baghdad is trumpeting that they will spend $21 million (US figures) to build "simple houses for the poor" in the eighteen provinces of Iraq -- a pittance in a fiscal year that is supposed to bring in $70 billion. And isn't this similar to what Joe Biden was proposing they do back in April? Didn't he speak of going overseas in the 90s, encountering a peace keeping operation where a US soldier defused a situation of refugees who wanted their home back by steering them to new housing while the matter was settled? (Yes, Biden did share that story. Four months later, Iraqis toy with implementing it.) Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a corpse bombing in Mosul that claimed the lives of 3 police officers and a Mosul car bombing left eight police officers wounded. CNN notes a Salaheddin roadside bombing attack on police chief Hamed Namis al-Jabouri which left him wounded ("critically wounded") as well as seven police officers injured. Reuters notes a Nassiriya mortar attack that claimed the lives of 8 members of one Iraqi family.

Shootings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 men and 1 woman were shot dead at a Shirqat checkpoint with another woman wounded and "Mahmoodd Younis Fathi was assassinated by gunmen in the city of Mosul" with one of his bodyguards killed in the attack. CNN notes Younis Fathi was "a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party" which recently ended their boycott and rejoined the government "and the director of religious schools for the Sunni Endowment".

Corpses?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports the corpse of Kereem al-Haj Shereef (taxi driver kidnapped Wednesday) was discovered in Sulaimaniyah.

Turning to the US presidential race. Ralph Nader is the independent candidate for president

The two-party system -- a 220-year-old political prison, winner take all, electoral college, duopoloy -- basically says to voters: "You got two choices. You stay home and not vote. Or, if you want your vote to mean something, and you want to be with the winner, you vote for one of the two major party candidates. Otherwise, you are wasting your vote." And you hear Matt [Gonzalez] say, "Were those voters in the 19th century who spun off from the Whigs and the Democrats and didn't try to spin the difference between these two parties on slavery waste their vote?" Aren't we glad that enough voters voted for the Liberty Party at least to put it on the political map in 1840 and the Woman's Suffrage Party, the Populist Party, the Labor Party, the Greenback Party. All these parties and then Norman Thomas' Socilaist Party, Progressive Party will follow it. Eugene Debbs. What did they propose? A-ha. The blasphemy of their days is the common place of our days. They proposed direct election of senators, 40-hour week, progressive income tax, Social Security, Medicare. They proposed labor standards. They proposed regulation of big business. So we have three kind of voters in this country. One, the hereditary voters who will vote Republican and Democrat no matter who the nominee is because their grandparents did. That's a big chunk. [NYC] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg, when he was thinking of running for [presidential] office, I had a telephone conversation with him -- actually, just before he was going to announce that he wasn't, on that day. And he said "I've done surveys and polls all over the country. Here's my conclusion. 15% of the Republicans will vote for the Republican nominee if the Republican nominee was Leon Trotsky. And 15% of the Democrats would vote for the Democratic nominee if the nominee was Ayn Rand." That was a way of saying, if he threw his hat in the ring, he starts with a 30% handicap. Maybe he's understimating it? But that's one, the hereditary voter. The second is the tactical voter. The tactical voter says, "Let's be realitistic. We don't care about how bad the Democratic Party is in terms of our supporting it as long as we know the Republican Party is worse. That's the tactical vote. "Be realisitic." The tactical voters is one who spends three years moaning and groaning about the Democratic Party. "They didn't roll back any of President Bush's legislation when they took over in 2007! Not one. Not even the disallowing Uncle Sam to negotiate for volume discounts with the drug companies when the Drug Benefit Act -- a bonaza worth tens of billions of dollars to the drug companies -- was enacted. They didn't roll back anything. They keep funding the war. Their leader -- presumptive nominee -- wants more soldiers in Afghanistan. He doesn't have an exit strategy. They don't do anything about strengthening the corporate criminal crime laws. John Conyers has a single-payer bill, HR 676, 85 members of the House have signed on but he can't get one Democratic Senator to introduce it in the Senate. Not one. Not Obama, not Clinton and not those two great, new progressive senators Bernie Sanders and Senator Brown. Sherrod Brown from Ohio. Those are the great hopes of the progressive wing. Now why don't they introduce it? Senator Sanders who has come out against impeachment vigorously along with Senator Brown "It's exactly what Karl Rove wants us to do -- is to initiate impeachment." 'So he can turn the 26% of the people who support Bush against us!' Is that what he really means? I'm putting that word in his mouth. I mean this is the lowest popular president in modern times and Cheney's at 16% which is almost happen-stance, you know. Harry Truman proposed universal health care. 1945. Sent it to Congress 1950. What are we talking about here? Isn't it about time that we join the community of nations? Taiwan has universal health care. Every western country has universal health care. A country we give four billion dollars a year to, Israel, has universal health care. Maybe they should have a foreign aid program? Reverse it back to us? Now what does it mean when you don't have health insurance? What is means is that 18,000 Americans die every year according to the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, that's six 9-11s every year. The Urban Institute just came out with an estimate: 22,000. That means hundreds of, hundreds of thousands of people get sick, stay sick, don't have their injuries treated cause they can't afford health insurance. Why doesn't that get us angry? Because the people who can do something about it, who can have their calls returned, have health insurance. How many people here do not have health insurance? That's pretty impressive. How many are under twenty-five? See, that's what people out of school are now facing. Trying to find affordable health insurance, or health insurance of any kind, affordable housing, trying to deal with rapacious student loan companies like Sallie Mae with all their fine print and their gouging interest rates, wondering whether their jobs are going to be outsourced abroad because anything with software, architect, engineer, accounting, computer, all that can be outsourced. Law -- a lot of law jobs now are starting to be outsourced. Even media jobs are starting to be outsourced. I'm still looking for CEO jobs to be outsourced. I think there are some very good bi-lingual Chinese executives, brilliant skills, who for 10 percent of the pay would take care at General Motors and Exxon and Pfizer. After all, they're outsourcing their own employees jobs to keep up with the global competition. Well . . . let's start at the top. Huh? So the tactical voter is a complicit voter -- wittingly or unwittingly -- because the moment you go you're so terrified of the worst party you go to the next worst party -- on a huge number of issues, a huge number of corporate power issues. Then you're saying to the least worst nominee -- Obama, for example -- that your vote can be taken for granted because you are so terrified of the Republicans that you will not make any demands on Obama in the area of women's rights and abolishing poverty and consumer protection and environment and tax changes and the wars and all the rest of it. And labor reforms and repeal of Taft-Hartley. So you don't make any demands. Don't, don't disturb them! I mean, they gotta' be elected! They've got a strategy for election. They sure have. Mondale. Dukakis. Kerry. Gore -- who won but it was taken from him, but it was a lot closer than it should be. Clinton who had Bob Dole as his opponent, who would campaign in Missouri and look at his watch and say, "I think I got to go to the airport so I can get home." Washington, DC. He really wasn't that serious. It is not a winning strategy. It is a losing strategy. Clinton, as Matt just said, benefitted greatly from those 19 million votes [referring to the 19 million who voted for H. Ross Perot, the third-party candidate]. Then there's the third class of voter. The third class of voter reflects what Eugene V. Debbs once said. He said, "Better to vote for someone you believe in and lose than someone you don't believe in and win." What did he mean by that? He meant if you vote for someone you don't believe in and win that someone is going to betray you, that someone is not going to look back on what your support is supposed to mean. And the Democrats have betrayed this country in ways that some chroniclers will fill many books in the coming future. So the important thing here is to measure these parties by what the American people need, want, deserve, are entitled to. That's way over do. Those are the yardsticks. The Democrats could have stopped Bush on the war. They had the votes to block almost everything he did. You know the Senate can, when you've got over 40 seats you can almost block anything. Ask the Republicans.

That's Ralph Nader speaking at Sebastopol Sunday. Did you miss it? You can hear it online. Bonnie Faulkner -- apparently the last working journalist in broadcast media -- thinks you have a right to know about all the candidates, not just the front runners. Wednesday on KPFA, her program, Guns and Butter, featured Matt Gonzales and Ralph Nader speaking at the Sebastopol Community Center. [Here for KPFA archive.] Maria Recio (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that, "Nader accuses the news media of being in a 'cultural rut' by ignoring him. He said he'd been on national television only 10 seconds this election cycle. 'Put me in all the debates and we'll have a three-way race'." And Ralph's right about that. David Cook (Christian Science Monitor) offers a more complete quote of Nader, "The media is in a cultural rut. I am not talking about their private, incisive, skeptical conversations with one another. I am talking about the questions they don't ask, the questions they ask. Give me a bunch of 10-year-olds instead of the White House press corps, and the president would be far, far more upset and anxious. . . . Don't be so cynical about small starts. If nature was like you, seeds would never have a chance to sprout."

Team Nader notes:

It was a breakthrough day with the mainstream media.
Yesterday morning, Ralph Nader met with a group of reporters at a breakfast meeting sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
The meeting resulted in a slew of articles - including those that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Miami Herald, the National Journal and US News and World Report.
One of the points that Ralph made at the meeting yesterday was that if he is given the opportunity to debate the two corporate candidates - McCain and Obama - it will become a three-way race.
Yes it will.
But right now, the debates are controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) - which is controlled by the two major parties and the corporations that fund them.
But fear not.
We'll be campaigning over the next couple of weeks to bust up the corporate hammerlock on free speech in this election year and to get Ralph and Matt into the debates.
To first step is to create a viable candidacy.
And the candidacy can't be viable if we're not on enough state ballots.
As the Miami Herald headline put it today: Nader Sets Goal to be on Most Ballots.
Our goal: 45 states.
And thanks to you, we're on track - on in 28 now, 30 by Sunday, 45 by September 20.
But right now, we need your help to fund this massive, nationwide ballot access drive.
We need your help to meet our target of $100,000 by Sunday, August 10.
We're at over $61,000 with only four days to go.
So, here's the plan.
We need 390 of you - our loyal supporters - to donate $100 each now.
And in return, we'll ship you No Debate, the classic expose of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
And we'll also send you an autographed copy of Ralph Nader's 49-page political manifesto - Civic Arousal.
To help us bust open the debates this year, you'll need these two books - No Debate for the rock solid expose and criticism of the corporate-controlled debates.
And Civic Arousal for a healthy dose of homegrown Ralph inspiration.
(In Civic Arousal, Ralph reports the following: When we were youngsters, our father would ask us provocative questions. One day he asked - What is the most powerful, event-producing force in the world? We guessed and guessed. His answer: Apathy. What? Yes, he said. Apathy. Because huge numbers of apathetic citizens, or victims, allow bad guys to create all kinds of problems on the ground - from dictatorial regimes, to repressed economic conditions, to health and safety hazards, to corruption, to wars.)
If you already have these books, get yourself another set.
They make a great gift for young and old alike in this election season.
And you'll help put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot.
So, do it now.
Drop that $100 spot on Nader/Gonzalez.
Don't delay.
We need to get 'er done this weekend.
(Only one set of books per donation of $100 or more. If you would like two sets, please donate twice. Three sets, donate three times.)
Help push us past our $100,000 goal.
And get these two classics now.
Thank you.
Together, we will open up the debates.
Onward


And non-Iraq news. First, Carly Simon's new CD This Kind of Love (reviewed by Kat here) leads to a lengthy interview on NPR's World Cafe where she discussed the new album, her career and breast cancer. John Pilger (at ZNet) reflects on the bombing of Hiroshima. Friday (in most markets) NOW on PBS features Pakistani documentarian Sabiha Sumar discussing her film Dinner With the President -- her documentary on Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan. And Robin Morgan explores the United Nations at WMC.

iraqagustin aguayo
said rifaithe los angeles timesned parkercampbell robertsonthe new york times
richard a. oppel jr.
mcclatchy newspapers
deborah haynes
carly simonthis kind of love
kpfabonnie faulknerguns and butter
kats korner
john pilger
robin morgan
now on pbs
pbs
npr
maria reciodavid cook

The Godfather III, Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

What a day! We ended up with an off-base group of soldiers this afternoon. That was an on the fly speaking event. C.I. got a call from someone serving and asked "Are you really in the area?" Upon learning that it was true, he said he could get "probably 18 soldiers" together for a discussion. It ended up being 31.

That was a very lively, very intense discussion and probably will be my favorite of the week. As soon as we left, C.I. was madly rushing to dictate the snapshot. I suggested, "Forget the snapshot, talk about a movie." But I knew that wouldn't happen.

But talking about a movie is what the rest of us will be doing tonight. Over the weekend, the issue of burnout was discussed and we'd all decided that Wednesday night, we'd blog about movies and it would be a favorite film from the 80s. As I explain that to you, I'm searching my mind for the movie to blog about. No, I am never prepared.

We're also taking the time to note the Ralph Nader presidential campaign. That's what sold us on the idea. Talking about a favorite 80s movie might lead to someone who likes the movie stopping by and maybe tip them off to Nader's campaign. Wouldn't you know it, it's the one day the Nader campaign doesn't have a blog post. So I would assume we're all picking from the e-mail C.I. sent out on Nader coverage there wasn't time for in the snapshot.

Before I get to that, let me just note that afternoon/evening group. 6 US soldiers have died in Iraq since Saturday. Today we were speaking to US soldiers who are in the service and there was a lot of surprise that 6 had died with so very little press coverage. So I do want to note that (it's in C.I.'s snapshot at the end as well) because I knew it was really hard to find that out in the press coverage. But it's not just civilians that this information is shielded from, it's also those serving. One guy spoke about the end of the month coverage last week and how such a big deal was made out of "only 13" but now that we've nearly seen half that number die in four days, where is the press?

Good point.

Some Ralph Nader coverage to check out includes The Christian Science Monitor and McClatchy Newspapers. I'll note this from the National Journal:

Asked repeatedly by reporters if he feels the same way about McCain and Obama as he did about Bush and Gore in '00 - when he called the GOP and Dem noms "interchangeable" - Nader said that each candidate this year "would be limited in what they can do" by the same special interest pressures.
"Look, all candidates are different from each other," Nader said. "Biologically, too."
Nader said the "absolutely remarkable fear of corporations" limits any major party candidate.
"Regardless of what's in the inner recesses of their consciences, candidates are forced to homogenize once they're in power," he added.
Asked if his campaign will "hurt" Obama's in Nov: "I think Obama is going to hurt Nader/Gonzales."
But Nader's toughest words were reserved for the media. He said that "a bunch of 10 year olds" would do a better job than the current WH press corps.
When about his chances in '08, Nader said, "It depends on what you call winning. I define winning in many ways." Nader said he aims to keep his agenda alive. But, he added, "put me in all the debates, and we'll have a three-way race."
After 30-plus years as a consumer advocate and three "official, if you ask the FEC" runs for the WH, Nader said he's learned that his best asset is his toughness. He said that he's been subject to a "lot of ridicule" over the years he's spent as arguably the nation's most famous (or infamous) third party candidate.
"In this country, if you're not moving with the two major parties, you've got to have thick skin,” he said.


If you want someone who could make a difference, that choice is Ralph Nader. I hear all the time (and heard today), "But I'm not sure he can win." Well, do you want him to? If you do, you're going to have to vote for him.

There's something that happened in 2000. Bully Boy stole the election. That allowed the DNC to whine about this and that (it was whining -- for them to truly be for democracy, they would not have now been caught in their efforts to keep Ralph off the ballot in 2004). And it allowed 2000 to be rewritten as "Ralph cost Al Gore the election!" No, Ralph didn't cost Al Gore the election.

First, the Supreme Court stole the election for Bully Boy and installed him. Second, Al Gore ran a lousy campaign and was a lousy candidate. I know Bob Somerby wakes up in sticky sheets each day after a night of dreaming about Al. But Al was a lousy candidate and Joe Lieberman only made him worse.

The Supreme Court's actions allowed Dems to whine. But they turned to the whining into attacks on Ralph. If Barack's not elected, too bad for Dems, they won't be able to say Ralph stole votes. Votes don't belong to anyone and Barack's doing just like Gore did, ignoring the base. Leadership got to avoid the day of reckoning in 2000 by blaming Ralph and that election was so crazy that a lot of people missed what really took place. You now have an active group of people following what's happening. If Barack can't close the deal (I don't think he can), they'll have to find another way to excuse their pandering to corporations.

Ralph could win. And I think Barack needs to stop trying to steal Ralph's votes. Ralph is for ending the illegal war. Barack is for continuing the illegal war. He's not saying he'll do a withdraw. He's saying he'll take some troops out (move them to Afghanistan for another illegal war) and continue the illegal war. That's why, in the debate, he couldn't promise that all troops would be out by the end of his first term if he was elected to be the president. In other words, four years from now, if elected, Barack may not have ended the illegal war. Let's all stop being Stupid Norman Solomon and pretending that is "withdrawal." Let Norman and Janine Jackson and all the rejects at FAIR continue lying but the rest of us need to wake up.

Movies? I've finally decided on two. The Godfather III and Come Back To The Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.

The first one was one I had to drag friends to see. No one wanted to see it. And it was opening night. I was interested because I really loved the first two Godfathers. I begged, I pleaded and we finally got to see it and not Sack Lunch. (I don't remember what film they wanted to see. "Sack Lunch" is a made up film from Seinfeld that Elaine wants to see instead of The English Patient.)

I loved it. I was pretty much alone. When it came out on videotape, I watched the two videocassettes and still loved it. I may be the only one in the world who loves that movie best of the three Godfathers.

Let me start with the weaknesses. Andy Garcia.

Andy Garcia is not a great actor. He is stiff. He is always stiff. There's a moment early in the film where he's standing stiffly with his arms clapsed behind his back and that really captures Garcia's 'acting.'

Andy Garcia is the weakest spot in the film.

Sadly, Sofia Coppola took the fall. She isn't bad in the film. Where her character fails is in the moment where her death is supposed to be a supreme tragedy and, for that to register, we need an actor who can convey that. The fault isn't Sofia's who is supposed to be dead. It's Andy Garcia's. He is the most withdrawan and self-contained actor.

He brings down the whole film.

But around him, you have some amazing work being done. Al Pacino gives the performance of a lifetime as Michael. Dianne Keaton's Kay brings everything that could have been and everything that was lost into her scenes. You really believe that it's Kay and Michael and not Dianne and Al. You really believe that two people who love each other but can't be together (because Kay won't tolerate Michael's crimes) are onscreen. Their moments are pure magic.

Outside of their moments and in their moments, Francis Ford Coppola brings so much to every scene. It is such a textured film. I think it is among his finest works (and fault him only for hiring Garcia).

But the film belongs to his sister, Talia Shire. Shire's been a background piece in the other two films. In this film, Connie demonstrates what she was learning in the background and becomes the force of the family. It is a very brave and fearless performance from Shire. A lot of films ask, "Can the family stay together?" This installment of The Godfather gets to why they should not. Not only does Michael lose her daughter but he dies. Losses are all around including the only real happiness he could have had (if he'd walked away from the family the way Kay did). Talia Shire's character is for binding the family together no matter what. And there is no one she will not seek revenge on. She will force the family into continued existance and proves herself to be her father's child. Michael wasn't. Others have been killed in the two films. Connie emerges in the final installment and has all the destructive strength that her father had. The family will continue and will continue on its path of destruction. Losses will not matter. They will never cause reflection. The drive is to destroy. I think it says a great deal about the time period in which it was made.

Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean is a Robert Altman film. He staged it on Broadway and the same cast did his filming of the play. Instead of adding outdoor scenes -- the usual way of opening up plays -- Altman uses mirrors creatively both to build space and to add as transitions.

It's a very funny movie and Cher is amazing in it as Sissy. She's the town tramp. She and Sandy Dennis work at the Five and Dime. They were friends in the fifties when Giant was shot nearby. Sandy Dennis became pregnant and has maintained for years that the child was James Dean's. No one must contradict Dennis' character who is very controlling and prone to fits. Sissy is probably the only one who can connect with her and even their relationship is strained. Karen Black shows up as a figure from the past. Her arrival will demolish the charades that all the characters have created, especially Dennis' character. There's a lot to enjoy the film (which I think is a masterpiece) and that includes some very funny performances. Cher is a joy, of course. Sandy Dennis is as well. Kathy Bates in an early film role establishes herself as someone to watch.

So those are my two films. Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday August 6, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, a war resistance anniversary approaches, 6 US service members have died in Iraq since Saturday, the Iraqi provincial elections seem unlikely this year, the puppet al-Maliki sits on millions and spends very little, and more.

Starting with war resistance. In June 2006, Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. That decision followed much research on his part and the decision at the end of 2005 that he could not participate in an illegal war. For months prior to going public, Watada attempted to work with the US military which gave him every indication that they wanted to work with him on this issue. But no alternative was ever accepted. Instead he was repeatedly told that something would happen, some decision would be reached. His command was attempting to run out the clock because June 22, 2006 would be when he would deploy to Iraq and they thought if they strung him along he would have no choice but to deploy. Instead, Watada went public. Almost two years ago, his Article 32 hearing was held (August 17, 2006). The Article 32 hearing allowed Watada to call witnesses such as retired Army Col Ann Wright and former UN under-secretary Denis Halliday. Lt Col Mark Keith oversaw the Article 32 hearing. In February 2007, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) presided over the court-martial. Judge Toilet had his own idea of 'justice' which included refusing to allow Watada's defense to explain why he decided to refuse to deploy. He could admit (or not) that he refused to deploy, but Judge Toilet wouldn't allow his reasons to be explained to the military jury. Judge Toilet also refused to allow Watada's attorney to call various witnesses. It was 'justice' in name-only. Despite that, Watada's case was presented strongly. So strongly that, on the third day, when Watada was due to take the witness stand, Judge Toilet suddenly found fault with a stipulation that he himself had explained to the jury and that he himself had overseen. Judge Toilet 'suggested' the prosecution move for a mistrial and the prosecution did not immediately take the hint or grasp that Toilet was handing them a do-over. When they did grasp it, they made the motion and Judge Toilet ruled the court-martial a mistrial over defense objection. The Constitution prohibits double-jeopardy -- one of those pesky laws Judge Toilet never grasped. Toilet said the second court-martial would take place in March of 2007. It did not. It has not taken place. Last November US District Court Judge Benjamin Settle ruled that the Constitutional issue had to be resolved. It still hasn't been resolved.

In December 2006, Watada's service contract expired. The first court-martial took place despite that fact. All this time later, Watada remains in the service and reports for duty on base while he waits for the US military to figure out their next move. The military had their chance to court-martial him but when Judge Toilet realized Watada might walk, he threw the justice system out the window and declared a mistrial. As a result, the military really has no 'follow up' at this point. They need to release Watada from the army immediately. His service contract expired nearly two years ago and his Article 32 took place almost two years ago.


War resisters in Canada need support as well. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

In Iraq, there is still no movement on provincial elections. Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, " After weeks of late-night negotiations and under intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi lawmakers failed to pass a much-debated provincial elections law Wednesday before adjourning for the month. The failure to pass the law, which would govern elections in provinces across the country, may push the elections into next year. If elections don't happen by the end of this year, it could be July before the balloting could be carried out, U.N. spokesman Said Arikat said." UPI reports that, citing Kurdish MP Fouad Massoum, there is the possibility of "a special session of Parliament sometime during the recess, which ends Sept. 9," to again try to address the issue of elections. Gina Chon (Wall St. Journal) notes the "days of intense negotiations and heavy pressure from the U.S., the United Nations and Britain" and how Kirkuk continued to be a stalling issue. Most reports do. Leila Fadel offers another theory among Iraqis, that those currently holding office aren't willing to risk losing office if new elections are called. Walter Ibrahim (Reuters) gets a non-official US response, quoting someone at the US embassy in Iraq who refused to be named but did declare, "The United States regrets that the Iraqi parliament today adjourned without finishing its work on a local elections law."


On the other big news of Iraq today, a new report finds that Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation, is refusing to spend the many millions on reconstruction still. White House press secretary Dana Perino declared, "It's interesting -- what I find interesting about this report, as well, is when you're looking at these two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, seeing how vastly different Iraq is from Afghanistan in terms of the natural resources that they have. Afghanistan is a very poor country, one of the poorest in the world. Iraq will come back much faster, given that they had some semblance of infrastructure, as crumbling as it was, but something to work from. Afghanistan is being built from scratch. And so I thought that was something worth taking away." What's interesting is that someone tasked with speaking to the press on behalf of the White House appears to have only just realized the differences between Afghanistan and oil-rich Iraq. It does not speak well of Perino -- even as spin, it should produce laughter. Perino was speaking on board Air Force One as the Bully Boy traveled to Thailand and repeatedly referred reporters' questions to the US State Dept implying that she hadn't seen the latest report. Later, after Air Force One landed in Thailand, Bully Boy would hold a public event with Thailand's Prime Minister Samak but took no questions. Apparently, like Perino, he was unfamiliar with the report. Perino: "I saw the report -- I saw the reports about the report -- so I'd refer you back to the State Department, just to -- as they wake up this moring -- just to make sure that they've looked at it, because I don't know all the details." A rather shocking admission for someone tasked with being the public face of the White House. Plenty of egg on the face to go around because, in DC this afternoon, the State Dept's Gonzalo R. Gallegos (Acting Deputy Spokesperson) held the daily press briefing and was asked about Iraq . . . never. Not once. Macedonia, Mexico and many other topics. Gallegos didn't arrive with a prepared statement and tossed immediately to questions. Not one reporter asked about Iraq. How very sad and very telling.

If you're feeling a sense of deja vu, you may be thinking back to last Wednesday when the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstuction issued a report. Stuart Bowen Jr. issued a note to the report [PDF format warning] explaining, "The United States has now appropriated more than $50 billion in taxpayer dollars for Iraq's reconstruction." The report notes its basis is "seven new audit products" between May 1st and June 30th of this year. You may be thinking of the silence that greeted that report as the press focused instead on the gossip and whispers that the White House was putting out declaring Bully Boy would speak Thursday morning and deliver a 'major' statement on Iraq that everyone just knew was going to be about the treaty between the White House and the puppet. The treaty, the White House had promised, would be wrapped up by July 31st. Bully Boy gave his statement, no word about a treaty. The dealine passed. And the government report on reconstruction was lost and forgotten.

For some context on the latest report, let's drop back to April when Gen David Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker did their song and dance before the US Congress. From the April 8th snapshot, where US Senator Barbara Boxer is questioning Crocker:

She wanted to know about the training, all the training, that had gone on and then on again. "We've done a lot for the Iraqis just in terms of the numbers themselves," Boxer declared. "I'll tell you what concerns me and most of my constituents, you said -- many times -- the gains in Iraq are fragile and reversable. . . . So my constituents and I believe that" after all the deaths, all the money, "you have to wonder why the best that you can say is that the gains are fragile and reversable." Noting the lack of military success and Hagel's points, Boxer pointed out that nothing was being done diplomatically "and I listened carefully to Senator Hagel and Ambassador Crocker -- from the answer you gave him, I don't get the" feeling that the White House has given anything, it's still "the status quo. She then turned to the issue of monies and the militias, "You are asking us for millions more to pay off the militias and, by the way, I have an article here that says Maliki recently told a London paper that he was concerned about half of them" and wouldn't put them into the forces because he doubts their loyalty. She noted that $182 million a year was being paid, $18 million a month, to these "Awakening" Council members and "why don't you ask the Iraqis to pay the entire cost of that progam" because as Senator Lugar pointed out, "It could be an opportunity" for the Iraqi government "to turn it into something more long term." This is a point, she declared, that she intends to bring up when it's time to vote on the next spending supplamental. Crocker tried to split hairs.

Boxer: I asked you why they couldn't pay for it. . . . I don't want to argue a point. . . I'm just asking you why we would object to asking them to pay for that entire program giving all that we are giving them in blood and everything else?

Today Karen De Young (Washington Post) reports that the US Government Accountability Office has found that while "Iraq's oil income will more than double this year . . . Baghdad continues to spend only a small percentage of its own money on reconstruction and services while it banks billions in surplus funds" and that, "Between 2005 and 2007, only 10 percent of Iraq's expenditures went toward reconstruction, with just 1 percent spent on maintaining U.S. and Iraqi-funded investments in roads, water, electricity and weapons, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. Even when Baghdad has allocated larger sums, the report said, it has spent only a small portion of the budgeted money." Kevin Hall (McClatchy Newspapers) points out that the report "left little doubt that Iraq, which racked up $32.9 billion in oil earnings from January through June, can afford to pay more for its own reconstruction." Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers' Baghdad Observer) takes the topic from the abstract to the concrete: "Driving through Iraq you feel the neglect here. In Basra the city is rivers of sewage, destroyed buildings and bridges from war after war after war. Every day I pass by the same buildings destroyed years ago during the U.S. led invasion in my neighborhood in Baghdad. Every day they look exactly the same, a pile of rubble. The electricity problem seems to be getting worse; Iraqis have an average of about four hours of electricity a day. While there is talk of reconstruction, a bridge here, flowers planted there the people don't feel a change."

In her brief remarks on Air Force One, Dana Perino offered a laughable example of how the puppet al-Maliki is helping Iraqis declaring that, "One thing that's very important is how they are spending their money, which is distributing it evenly amongst the --- around the country, but amongst the different sects as well, so Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds. It's something that they're going to have to continue to work out. We want them to take on more of their own responsibilities just from a security standpoint, but also reconstruction.
Also, if you remember, Prime Minister Maliki went into Sadr City, Basra and Mosul, he offered immediate financial assistance to people who were living there under those terrible conditions." The assaults on the people in those areas? The turn-over-your-guns-and-I'll-toss-a-few-coins-your-way is 'relief'? In what world?

Reality came via Sunday's press conference in Baghdad: hospitals that hide bed shortages, lack of supplies and more via a paint job. And we saw that justified by the Deputy Minister of Health for Grants and Loans who declared, "It is good for their psychological health . . . it is good to take care of the appearance, to see the building a new, clean." Spoiled blood, lack of medicine, lack of beds, lack of prosthetics, etc. are just minor details, after all, what matters is the hospital slapped on a new coat of paint outside. Or that's what matters to the Ministry of Health. Reality comes via Dalia al-Achi and Carole Laleve's UNHCR report Sunday on how the UNHCR and Syrian Arab Red Crescent was aiding Iraqi refugees in Syria by distributing "school kits to Iraqi refugee children . . . distribution of uniforms, shoes and school materials . . . and is expected to outfit 30,000 children from Damascus and Rural Damascus before the start of the Syrian School year on Sept. 7. Last year, UNHCR's distribution reached 20,000 Iraqi children." And what's al-Maliki done besides sit on millions? Not a damn thing.

But there was Perino on Air Force One this morning delcaring, " It's really important that they figure out a way to quickly get that money to those people directly. I think they've made a lot of progress on that, but they needed to do more." al-Maliki's done nothing for the people. But he has managed to go on spending sprees for items he wants. From last Friday's snapshot:
It's been a busy week for the puppet -- a regular spending spree. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency started the week with the announcement that they "notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Armored Security Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $206 milliion." Wednesday included "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Light Armored Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $3 billion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of technical assistance for construction of facilities and infrastructure as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1.6 billiion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Helicopters and related munitions as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.4 billion." Thursday brought this announcement, "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of M1A1 and Upgrade to M1A1M Abrams Tanks as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.16 billion."
Staying on the topic of violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that left two police officers wounded, a Baghdad bombing ("targeting . . . one of the Iraqi security companies") left four people injured, a Ninevah car bombing that killed the driver, 1 civilian, 1 Iraqi service member and left nine other people wounded and a Basra roadside bombing that wounded one civilian. Reuters notes a Mosul car bombing that claimed 3 lives (plus driver of the car) and left fourteen injured.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 "Awakening" Council members shot dead in Baghdad.

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 2 corpses discovered in Mosul and 16 corpses discovered in Diyala Province.

Last Thursday morning, the Bully Boy held court at the White House and said nothing. The press corps acted as though something had been said. "This has been a month of encouraging news from Iraq," he spun and the press took their marching orders. They're still following those 'turned corner' marching orders despite the fact that there is no treaty, despite the fact that there will most likely be no October provincial elections, despite the fact that al-Maliki is spending next to nothing on reconstruction and despite the fact that violence is again up in Iraq. Much was made all last week of "Only 13 US soldiers dead in Iraq for the month of July!" As if 'only 13' dead from an illegal war was something to go wild over.

Private Timothy J. Hutton
Specialist Jonathan Menke Sergeant Gary Henry Sergeant Brian K. Miller Private 1st Class Jennifer L. Cole Specialist Kevin R. Dickson Specialist Ronald Andrew Schmidt

All six US service members have died since Saturday morning. Somehow that hasn't resulted in the 'coverage' that 13 for the month of July resulted in coverage last week.


Turning to the US presidential race. Ron Jacobs (Dissident Voice) notes just how much it is costing the peace movement (and how willing 'leaders' are to table objection to the illegal war):
Just look at the major national antiwar organization United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and their public stance regarding the desire of organizers of the protests at the upcoming Democratic convention to stage a large antiwar march at the convention. According to a recent press release from some organizers of the march, Leslie Cagan of UFPJ told some Denver organizers, "We don't think it makes sense to plan for a mass march that might not end up being all that mass!" In other words, UFPJ is refusing to help build support for the march.
There can only be one reason for UFPJ's stance. That reason is UFPJ's allegiance to the Democratic Party. This allegiance is not an allegiance found among the grassroots of UFPJ but at the top. It involves a political misunderstanding of the Democrats' role in maintaining the US empire and a fear of losing funding from elements of UFPJ that are tied to the Democratic Party. Ignoring the fact that it is the Democratic Congress that has kept the Empire's wars going, UFPJ continues to call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "Bush's Wars." Besides the attempts to silence the antiwar voice in the streets, there are also ongoing attempts by Democratic Party manipulators to keep antiwar language out of the Party's platform. This is in spite of a statement signed by the progressive wing of the party demanding that the language be included. If 2004 is any indication, there will be no antiwar language in the 2008 Democratic Party platform.

We saw this happen in 2004 and the peace movement was in disarray until the summer of 2005 (Cindy Sheehan resparked the movement). That cannot happen again but it is happening as too many see their 'peace' role as "cheerleader for Barack." Presumed Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama continues to run the most embarrassing campaign in recent memory. Today's big news is that another campaign staffer (volunteer!) has been outed. Perry Bacon Jr. (Washington Post) reports that the volunteer was Chicago's own Mazen Asbahi who held the title of "Muslim outreach coordinator" until the Wall St. Journal did the job the campaign should have and found ties to Jamal Said and the North American Islamic Trust. True or false doesn't matter and will not be known for some time. In a campaign perception matters. The Obama campaign has already telegraphed that they see Asbahi as someone to wash their hands of and it's one more sign of how inept that campaign is that they didn't do the vetting that a paper did. Though Asbahi will most likely be found to have no links or ties to terrorists and be nothing but a dedicated volunteer who believed in a candidate and wanted to work for the candidate's election, the campaign continues to demonstrate just how unskilled and unknowledgable they are. This is the campaign that drummed up over a week's worth of mock outrage over a satirical cover of The New Yorker which lampooned the notion that, among other things, some may see Barack as a terrorist. If they put half that energy into vetting their staff, they wouldn't be in the news on this today. Asbahi joined the campaign July 25th, after the mock outrage. The campaign damn well took offense at satire but apparently lacked the intelligence to do the basic vetting of any high-profile spot. Asbahi joined the campaign with a high-minded/self-serving statement and now leaves the campaign with a cloud over himself and one over the campaign. He does so with the usual nonsense statement about how his departure is "to avoid distracting from Barack Obama's message of change" but the real message the campaign has again sent is that they do not know how to run a campaign including the most basic procedure of vetting anyone in a profile role.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is for a real withdrawal (not a partial redeployment to Afghanistan masked as a 'withdrawal'). Nader continues to pursue ballot access and will hold a press conference in Iowa tomorrow morning at 9:30:

Nader/Gonzalez Campaign and the Iowa Peace and Freedom Party Wednesday Will Submit more than Double the Required Signatures for Ballot QualificationSupporters of Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader and the Iowa Peace and Freedom Party will submit petitions to place Mr. Nader and running-mate Matt Gonzalez on the November 2008 election ballot, Thursday, Aug. 7, to the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. Mr. Nader will be on the ballot as the Iowa Peace and Freedom Party nominee, and if he gains more than 2 percent of the vote in the state, the party will become a ballot-qualified political group.Iowa will be the 26th state in which the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign has filed for a ballot line since the celebrated consumer advocate announced his intent to run during a February 24 appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." To qualify to appear on Iowa's ballot, state law requires submission of the signatures of 1,500 registered voters.The Nader/Gonzalez campaign will submit more than 3,000 signatures.Scott Knight, the Nader/Gonzalez Iowa State coordinator, will be joined by Iowa supporters of Nader/Gonzalez 2008 and the Peace and Freedom Party at 9:30 a.m. for a news conference at Capitol West Steps, West Mall area, Capitol Building, Des Moines, IA.Iowans have been hit recently with massive floods and with the greed of large corporations, like Whirlpool Corp., which in July filed a federal lawsuit aiming to slash the medical benefits of thousands of retired Maytag workers after having bought out that company. The Nader/Gonzalez Campaign offers solutions instead of excuses. Mr. Nader would rein in corporate greed, waste and abuse and respond to natural emergencies with preventative public investments and rapid response to those disasters. As president, Mr. Nader would rebuild the Mid-West instead of tearing down the Mid-East. WHO: Iowa Supporters of Nader/Gonzalez 2008 Campaign and the Peace and Freedom Party WHAT: News Conference and turn-in of nominating petitions WHEN: Thursday, Aug 7, 2008, 9:30 a.m. WHERE: Capitol West Steps, West Mall area, Capitol Building, Des Moines, IA About Ralph NaderCelebrated attorney, author, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been named by Time Magazine one of the "100 Most Influential Americans in the 20th Century." For more than four decades he has exposed problems and organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups advocating solutions. He led the movement to establish the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and enact the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and countless other pieces of important consumer legislation. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments. Nader graduated from Princeton University and received an LL.B from Harvard Law School.About Matt GonzalezMatt Gonzalez was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2000 representing San Francisco's fifth council district. From 2003 to 2005, he served as Board of Supervisors President. A former public defender, Gonzalez is managing partner of Gonzalez & Leigh, a 7-attorney practice in San Francisco that represents individuals and organizations in mediation, arbitration, and administrative proceedings before state and federal regulatory bodies. Gonzalez graduated from Columbia University and received a JD from Stanford Law School.About the Nader/Gonzalez CampaignAccording to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted from July 27-29, Ralph Nader is at 6 percent nationally, higher than his highest major poll numbers during the same time period in 2000 and approaching the 10 percent threshold required for eligibility to participate in "America's Presidential Debate in New Orleans," a Google-sponsored event scheduled for September 18. In the key swing state of Michigan -- whose voters were partially disenfranchised by the Democratic National Committee -- an EPIC-MRA poll found Nader at 8-10 percent.

iraq
ehren watada
ron jacobs
karen deyoung
the washington post
mcclatchy newspapers
leila fadel
campbell robertson
the new york times

Pat Benetar stings Barack

You say you had a good time
But did ya think it was for free - yeah
And how much did it get ya, all their flattery
And now you come back, runnin for protection
You've been bitten by love and stung by rejection
You can't connect
What did you expect?
Im still gettin over you

Did you see the articles on various polls today? How Barack's losing support from various segments. Including young women. I was reading from the articles on the polls to C.I. who immediately started singing the above. At first I was thrown. I recognized the song (which we quoted Sunday at Third in an article) and I know all of Pat Benetar's songs. So C.I. sang it again.

I got it.

You say you had a good time

Yeah, he got a free ride, didn't he? All the adulation, all the mass love from the cult.

But did ya think it was for free - yeah

If he did, oh, how wrong he was.

And how much did it get ya, all their flattery

It got him nothing. He still can't close the deal.

And now you come back, runnin for protection

Which is all the talk about "Save Roe v. Wade!" You keep hearing that from all the faux-gressives. We said long ago that Roe wasn't going to be used to threaten us especially not on behalf of a candidate who didn't support it.

You've been bitten by love and stung by rejection

He got his love in Europe. He's now feeling his rejection in America.

You cant connect
What did you expect?

And he never could. He couldn't close the deal. He didn't win the primary. Neither he nor Hillary got enough delegates to claim the nomination. That's why they were tied. If Barack was so awesome and beloved, he would have closed the deal.

It really is "A little too little, It's a little to late" for Barack. He's been exposed for what he is.

This is from Stephan Smith's "Don't call them 'spoilers'" (Allentown Morning Call):

The next monkey wrench came in 1998 in the form of the Commission for Presidential Debates. Created by the two main parties, the its main role was to replace the impartial League of Women Voters, which ran our presidential debates. The reason was that in 1996, when Independent Ross Perot entered the debates he received 19 percent of the national vote. Since then, no third party presidential candidate has received more than 5 percent. The commission more than tripled the requirements for people like Nader, Barr, etc. to debate. The commission, whose chairmen are lobbyists, is funded by corporate contributions.

The 1996 elections meant America was ready for change. Voters proved our two-party system was not representing them and outside parties were being taken seriously, just as it was from the creation of our Constitution until the 1880s. Again, the hammer to suppress representation stifled that movement.

Recently, the Bonusgate affair emerged in Pennsylvania. In part, some Democratic operatives have been charged with illegally using taxpayer money to challenge Mr. Nader's 2004 ballot requirements. They took his name off the ballot and froze his bank accounts. My tax dollars being used to banish my candidate ... how undemocratic!

The news media also play the spoiler against Nader and others. Third party candidates get less than 5 percent of broadcast time and written news space. The media should not take sides. Our electoral process and its coverage are far from fair and balanced. Not allowing equal press coverage gives voters the mind set that a vote for Nader is wasted. Voters need to adhere to the words of socialist Eugene Debs who stated, ''Better to vote for someone you believe in and lose, than vote for someone you don't believe in and win.'' Equal representation leads to a more informed voter and puts third parties in contention, putting to rest the ''can't win'' mentality.


I think that really covers it.


Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Tuesday, August 5, 2008. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, the stalemate in Parliament continues, Turkey continues to be worried, the Guardian of London continues to reveal that a political party's newsletter (New Labour) doesn't make for journalism, news of Robin Long, Ralph Nader and -- gasp -- the Undead Speaks -- meaning we should all keep a close eye on Yorba Linda.

Starting with war resistance. US war resister Robin Long's civilian attorney James Branum has a YouTube video where he explains some of the basics of Long's case. Branum is a member of the National Lawyers Guild (and co-chair -- with Kathleen Gilberd -- of their Military Law Task Force).

James Branum: What's happening in Robin's case, Robin Long was an American soldier. And when he was recruited to join the US military, his recruiter and him were talking and Robin told the recruiter, said, "I'm okay with being in the army but I don't want to go to Iraq. I don't believe in it." Recruiter said, "Don't worry about it. You won't have to go to Iraq. I can make sure you won't. In fact, you'll be stationed at Fort Knox here in Kentucky. So Robin thought, "Okay, I can live with that." So he did that, he joined. Turned out the recruiter was honest about one point. Yes, he was stationed at Fort Knox [. . .] however he was told very quickly, "Yes, you're going to Iraq and you're going to be sent to Fort Carson, trained to go to Iraq and then, after that, you're going to be sent there." So Robin, what he ended up doing was, he ended up going to Canada and there's a lot there that I can't go into about his story but to make a real long story short it was an issue of conscience at the end of the day. He had to do what he felt was right. He couldn't do something that he felt wasn't right. And he couldn't go. That's what it comes down to. So when he got to Canada, he was living his life. He applied for aslyum status so he could stay there. And he was working. And as an asylum seeker, he was able to get a work permit and what-not. He also had a son while he was there who's now about two-years-old. And he had his life very well established. He did a lot of different jobs. All kinds of different stuff. For awhile, he was a fruit picker. He worked in different orchards. In fact, that's kind of what got him into trouble cause when he was working as a fruit picker, he was a seasonal migrant worker, you know? And so he was, for awhile, out in British Columbia. And he was previously in Ontario and there was a misunderstanding [. . .] from Canadian immigration about where he was supposed to check in to. And Robin thought he had checked in like he was supposed to. The immigration authorities say he didn't. There's a misunderstanding there. But to make a really long story short, even though Robin was fighting this in the Canadian courts, the Canadian officials pulled a sneaky manuever -- basically, they were able to fast-track him through deportation within four days so that he or his lawyer did not have time to respond appropriately in the Canadian system. And so he was trapped and he was sent to the US.
And what happened was he was held in jail for a few days in Canada and then he was handed over to US officials at the border. And actually, the Canadian officials even told the US officials, "Here's your deserter." Handed him off. And so from there, the immigration officials transferred him to a local jail and he was held in two different local jails for awhile before the military came and picked him up and transferred him to Fort Carson, Colorado. And at that point, at 11:30 at night, they had a hearing to decide whether he would remain in what is called pre-trial confinement. Because in the military, you don't get bail. Basically, you either are released before your trial or you wait in pre-trial confinement.
So they had a hearing late at night. Robin was put into jail. And since that point, he has been held here in Colarado Springs in the Criminal Justice Center in El Paso County -- basically just a regular old county jail with all kinds of people, dangerous criminals many of them, and it's a difficult place to be. But Robin's in good spirits and we're now dealing with the consequences of his action in the military courts here.

Robin Long was extradited. He was not deported. If that wasn't obvious before, it should be from the description above. Judge Anne Mctavish needs to be held accountable for her actions. The extradition process in Canada would have immediately opened up other avenues of appeal for Robin. That's why she didn't want to call it "extradition." Calling it "deportation" allowed her to act with NO OVERSIGHT. It wasn't deportation and -- repeating again -- as the father of a young Canadian child, the immigration laws in Canada are very clear about Robin's rights to stay in the country. It would be politically beneficial to the New Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and Bloc Quebecois to call for Parliament to hold an investigation into how Haper's government and Mctavish allowed Long to be extradited while telling the people of Canada he was being deported.

Steve Clarke, Federal Liberal candidate for Simcoe North and, last month, he wrote "Gov't can't keep ignoring motion concerning war objectors: Clarke" -- a letter to the editor (Orilla Packet & Times) which resulted in Ralph Moore's letter. Saturday, the paper ran his is "Re: Ralph Moore letter to the editor, 'Candidate's letter challenged by reader':"

I would like to thank Mr. Moore for his letter of July 18 in response to my earlier letter on conscientious objectors. Although I disagree with Moore's opinion on the legality of the Iraq war, I truly welcome honest public debate on important matters such as this one. The unsanctioned invasion of Iraq occurred March 18, 2003, a full seven months before the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1511 to ensure the "restoration of stability and security" in response to the chaos caused by the invasion. The resolution does not and could not provide retroactive exoneration. The fact remains, Stephen Harper would have committed Canada to this illegal war if he were Prime Minister at the time. As for Afghanistan, I would much prefer that Canada was there with our original intention of peace-keeping and reconstruction. However, our troops deserve our full support in this new, combative role, which is sanctioned by the UN. The point of my letter was that the Conservative government must respect the motion on conscientious objectors passed by Parliament. Harper himself said the government has a moral responsibility to respect such motions. This motion is based on an issue of fundamental human rights, and it is downright callous to ignore it. According to an Angus Reid poll conducted June 6 and 7, 2008, after Parliament passed the motion calling on the government to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada and to cease all deportation and removal proceedings, two-thirds of Canadians want Canada to grant permanent residence status to U. S. Iraq war resisters. The Harper Conservatives are afraid of raising the ire of their ideological cousins in the Republican administration but, ignoring the democratic will of Parliament and the views of the large majority of Canadians will only raise the fury of Canadian voters who want a more progressive government that reflects Canadian values. Steve Clarke, Federal Liberal candidate for Simcoe North

War resisters in Canada need your help. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Yesterday at the US State Dept, Gonzalo R. Gallegos (the department's "acting deputy" spokesperson) declared, "My understanding -- that the Iraiq parliament did not convene on Sunday. However, it has not yet recessed and lawmakers remain ready to reconvene once a new bill is ready for them to consider. The Iraqi political leaders are continuing to discuss the elections law. Ambassador Crocker and [US] Embassy officials continue to encourage Iraqis to work towards compromise and consensus, and to develop an elections law that will allow for provincial elections this year." Provincial elections. Long postponed. Long said to take place in 2008. Said for most of the year to take place in October. Fell apart last month as the Kirkuk issue split Parliament and led the Kurdish bloc to walk out. Campbell Robertson (New York Times) notes the United Nations is yet again proposing that the issue of oil-rich Kirkuk be tabled. As Robertson appears to explain it, not only would the issue of whether Kirkuk remained with the central government or split off into the Kurdish region be tabled, also tabled would be Kirkuk participating in provincial elections. Conspiracy! That's what AFP reports the Kurdish region's president, Massud Barzani, has called some efforts and quotes him stating, "After the long talks we held it was clear for us that what happened on July 22 was a big conspiracy and very dangerous for the democratic and constitutional process of Iraq, in particular against the Kurds." From the July 22nd snapshot:

Waleed Ibrahim (Reuters) reports today on "a walkout by Kurdish lawmakers over how to deal with the disputed oil city of Kirkuk" with regards to the supposedly upcoming provincial elections and quotes Khalid al-Attiya (Deputy Parliamentary Speaker) stating, "We cannot have a vote with an absence of a whole faction. The vote is useless. It will be rejected by the represenatives of this bloc and by the presidency council." CNN notes the makeup of the presidency council: Jalal Talabani (President, Kurd), Tariq al-Hsahimi (Vice President, Sunni) and Adel Abdul Mahdi (Vice President, Shi'ite) and adds, "Many observers believe Talabani would stand with his Kurdish compatriots and vote against the measure, bringing it back to square one." Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman is quoted by AP stating, "The draft of the provinical elections law will be referred to the presidential council, which will definitely not approve it. So the elections will be postponed until next year."

If the president of the Kurdish region is upset, you can take that to mean the issue is far from resolved. So it should come as no surprise that today's meeting resulted in nothing. The Iraqi Parliament closed session for the summer last Wednesday (yes, they did Campbell Roberston). They scheduled one special session for Sunday. At that session, nothing was accomplished. Nothing was accomplished yesterday and nothing was accomplished today. Hurriyet notes of Sunday: "A vote had been planned for Sunday but it was scrapped when lawmakers failed to agree on how the elections would affect Kirkuk, which minority Kurds want to make part of their semi-autonomous northern region. Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli called on the country's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a written statement to warn Iraqi Kurdish groups in Kirkuk more openly and take the necessary measures in order to protect Turkmen's rights. Turkey, who has historical ties with Kirkuk, has been monitoring the situation very closely and calls on all parties to reach consensus for a solution." At the US State Dept yesterday, Gallegos was asked about Recep Erdogan (Turkey's Prime Minister) speaking to Jalal Talabani (Iraq's President) to express concern over Kirkuk being annexed into the Kurdish region and Gallegos responded, "I think we said something about that last week, I believe. And our position is that we believe that this -- now is not the time to be making such a decision. We believe that the parties need to leave themselves open to all appropriate or -- all options in order to come to an understanding so that they can proceed with provincial elections this fall."

Strange wasn't it? How the United Nations pitched to Iraq just what the US favored? As Hurriyet noted, "Iraqi political leaders reached a tentative compromise on Monday" and were due to debate it again today. UPI explains, "The Iraqi Parliament adjourned its Tuesday session without reaching an agreement on provisions in the election law regarding the status of the city of Kirkuk. Shahied al-Jaberi with the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance said lawmakers opted to postpone the issue until the Wednesday session because lawmakers could not agree on the Kirkuk issue, Voices of Iraq reported." They also note Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Parliamentary Speaker, even arranged for the time alloted for debate to be extended but that resulted in nothing as well. Iran's Press TV reveals that, should the measure pass, "Elections in Kirkuk would also be postponed until no later than December 2009." BBC reports that "a Turkmen representative, said a delay [in Kirkuk voting] was unacceptable." China's Xinhua quotes Parliament's Deputy Speaker Khalid al-Attiyah, "The parliament session to approve the provincial election law has been delayed until tomorrow." Ned Parker Said Riifai (Los Angeles Times) point out, "The deadlock also prevented a vote by parliament on a $21-billion supplemental budget. The crisis has marked the first time that elements of one of the most prominent Shiite Muslim parties, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, have broken with the Kurds, their traditional allies."

Meanwhile Bully Boy faces a fresh onslaught of charges that he lied the world into an illegal war. Tim Reid and Sam Coates (Times of London) report that Ron Suskind's latest book (The Way of the World) includes details such as

* British intelligence (specifically M16) was informed that Iraq had no WMD in January 2003, that then Prime Minister Tony Blair was informed of that and that Poodle Blair passed it on to Bully Boy.

*That the CIA was ordered by the White House to create a forgery "from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Huseein" in order to falsely tie Iraq to 9-11.

Bill Plante (CBS News -- link has text and video) reports: "The book alleges that Habbush, Saddam's intelligence chief, was in CIA protective custody after the 2003 invasion, that the White House ordered CIA officials to have [Tahir Jalil] Habbush [al-Tikriti] write and backdate the letter, and paid him $5 million. The author quotes two former CIA officials who claim to have seen a draft of the letter on White House stationery." Interestingly (but not surprisingly) the Guardian of London is AVOIDING this story. That's only a surprise for anyone that confuses that RAT-TRAP with actual journalism. The Guardian sold the illegal war in England. When the Times of London exposed the Downing Street Memos, the Guardian refused to cover it. The Guardian is the DLC party organ in England. It is not journalism, it is not a newspaper. You have MPs in England saying that there needs to be an investigation and you have . . . silence from the Guardian. Never confuse that outlet with journalism.

Ali al-Mashhadani is a real journalist practicing real journalism. As noted in the July 31st snapshot, he is being imprisoned by the US military with no charges against him. The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a statement:U.S. military authorities should present charges against a Reuters cameraman detained since last Tuesday, or they should release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. [. . .] A spokeswoman for the Multi-National Forces-Iraq told CPJ that al-Mashhadani was detained because he posed a security risk and that his case would be reviewed within a seven-day period that began on July 29. "This is the third time U.S. forces have detained Ali al-Mashhadani without charge," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The military has never substantiated any wrongdoing by him. The authorities must make evidence against him public or release him immediately."

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 Baghdad roadside bombings that left five people wounded.

Shootings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an attack on "Awakening" Council members in Kirkuk that left 3 of them dead.

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes a corpse was found in Mosul today.

For those keeping score (and you should be) the deaths of 2 US soldiers from a Baghdad bombing Monday was covered in print by Ned Parker and Said Rifai's "Roadside bomb kills 2 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad" (Los Angeles Times) and Sudarsan Raghavan's "Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Baghdad Bombings" (Washington Post). The New York Times did not think it was news. That's five since Saturday according to ICCC.

Turning to the Undead -- it's got to be the only reason he's still around. Aging boy-toy Hank Kissinger shows up in the Khaleej Times to dish -- and with nary a starlet around. Kissinger who sold and re-sold an earlier illegal war sometimes makes sense -- sometimes that's insane sense, sometimes . . . Today he declares of withdrawals from Iraq, "Under the fixed withdrawal scheme, combat troops are to be withdrawn, but sufficient forces are to remain to protect the American Embassy, fight a resumption of Al Qaeda and contribute to the defence against outside intervention. But such tasks require combat, not support forces, and the foreseeable controversy about the elusive distinction will distract from the overall diplomatic goal." Yes, he has noted the problem. Those are combat troops whether you call them "combat" or something else. Where he's wrong is when he claims that there's no need for a fixed withdrawal. (Mass killings are and have always been Viagra for Hank.) But that's the reality of Barack's plan that supposed 'peace' 'leaders' don't want to face. It's not withdrawal. It was never withdrawal. Maybe with Kissinger pointing it out, it will finally register. In other news of presumed Democratic presidential nominee and presumed narcissist Barack Obama, US News & World Reports offers an exhuastive round-up of the reaction to his latest cave

A widely-distributed AP story also says Obama's proposal "includes two significant reversals of positions he has taken in the past," noting that "as recently as last month" he "argued against tapping into the petroleum reserve," while USA Today reports Obama's proposals include "two reversals of positions he has taken in the past." A widely-syndicated McClatchy pieces is titled, "In Another Switch, Obama Calls For Tapping U.S. Oil Reserve," and says "Obama's revised position on a key energy issue was his second shift in three days." Likewise, the New York Times titles its piece, "Obama, In Shift, Urges Tapping Oil From U.S. Reserve."However, the Wall Street Journal reports that Obama aides defended the move, saying Obama "had met with economic advisers and business leaders in Washington last week, and they had advised him to call for tapping the government reserve." The New York Daily News adds, "Team Obama cast the proposal as a 'refinement,' rather than a flip-flop, on Obama's previous opposition to tapping the 770-million barrel reserve."In an editorial, the San Francisco Chronicle says that Sen. Obama's "energy policy is offering more flip flops than a Lake Tahoe souvenir stand." The New York Post editorializes, "One more week, one more Barack Obama reversal on a key issue. Actually, make that two reversals. ... So much for principles."

Turning to independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader. As Ruth pointed out yesterday, "AP reports today that Mr. Nader's campaign will turn in signatures tomorrow to qualify for South Dakota's ballot. Lebanon Daily News reports that Mr. Nader should be on Pennsylvania's ballot because the campaign has collected 24,666 signatures (the deadline is Friday). Jesse A. Hamilton (Hartford Courant) reports that the Nader-Gonzalez ticket picked up the nomination of California's Peace and Freedom Party ('carrying with it an automatic slot on the California election ballot') and contains this statement from the Nader campaign, 'There can no longer be any justification -- if there ever was -- for Ralph Nader not being included in every national poll'." Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) noted the Nader campaign's plans for the week includes garnering "the November ballots of seven states". Tim Carpenter (Capitol-Journal) reports that "Kansas is the 22nd state in which Nader's forces filed papers since his campaign began in February." Richard Winger (Ballot Access News) reports Nader is now on the ballot in Michigan. AP notes the campaign plans to file for the ballot today in South Dakota. Meanwhile John Geluardi (San Francisco Weekly) covers the College of Marin campaign stop Sunday by Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez with Gonzalez asking the large crowd assembled, "How is he [Barack] going to 'change' the culture of Washington if he can't stand up to those corporations?" Nader's remarks included, "We now grow up corporate. When you start looking at ads when you're two, three, four years old, pretty soon the world is Madison Avenue. Then in college it's computer skills, computer skill, computer skills. What about civic skills? Young people think they live in a Democracy because they can vote for American Idol."

Finally, from Team Nader:

Only two days left in our Win Dinner with Ralph E-mail Contest.
Many thousands of you have signed on.
And a select few of you are competing for the grand prize of a dinner with Ralph.
This morning, Ramy Mousa from Baton Rouge, Louisiana tops the leader board with 263 friends that have joined our network.
But many more thousands of you haven't even played.
So, we'd like you to try it.
You bring us the e-mails of your friends, neighbors and countrymen.
We feed them up-to-the minute breaking news about the two corporate candidates - Obama and McCain - and the growing challenge by Nader and Gonzalez.
Nader/Gonzalez is an unconventional campaign, in many ways.
One, there is no national convention.
We're running as independents.
Two, we have a broad range of support.
Take Iggy Pup here, for example.
We asked Iggy.
Iggy, who ya going vote for?
Iggy, being on our e-mail list, knew that Nader/Gonzalez would shift the power from the corporations back into the hands of the people.
Check out Iggy's answer in this just released Nader/Gonzalez video.
But it's not enough for Iggy to be plugged in.
Or for you to be plugged in.
We have to spread the word far and wide.
And one way to do it is to build our network of supporters.
Just bring us five new e-mails, and you can be part of a special invite-only conference phone call with Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.
But you have to get going.
The contest ends the day after tomorrow - Thursday August 7 - at 11:59 PM on the West coast.
There are other great prizes.
But most importantly, you'll be helping us spread the word.
About the candidacy that will stand up to the two corporate parties in November.
So, help us out - find five people right now that will join our network of supporters.
Click here to get started.
If you are already in the game, thank you.
You can track your ranking on our leader board.
Find more friends and family and colleagues, and watch yourself move on up.
We'll be announcing the winners in a week or so.
Thank you for joining.
Together, we are making a difference.
Onward.
iraqrobin long
the washington postsudarsan raghavansaid rifaithe los angeles timesned parkercampbell robertsonthe new york times
tim carpenterjohn geluardirichard winger
u.s. news & world reports