You Go Too, Joe!

Since Joe Lieberman is reading from the same comic book as John McCain , I think he needs a field trip to Iraq as well! They can stroll along the Tigris together.

Lieberman comes on the Situation Room with his violence blinders on to support his Republican pals on the Iraq war—and responds to Ware's report from yesterday. Ware responds to Holy Joe later in the show.

Lieberman: So, I — I don't — I can't directly dispute Michael Ware's overall picture, but I'll tell you most significantly, the American soldier is more confident walking the streets of Baghdad today. And that's a very important change.

Ware: So, honestly, the dynamics, the fundamental underlying schisms, what's really driving this war all over the country, are not yet being addressed. We're only talking about the surface.

He can't directly dispute anything Micahel Ware says because he isn't there in the flesh. Michael Ware is LIVING in Iraq! Living there! If Lieberman and McCain are so sure it is safe, I think it is there duty to go and prove it!

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No Room At The Inn

I absolutely am going to have to laugh now. Huh?

“She wasn’t discreet about it,” said Jason Pickel, referring to a hotel employee. “She was not apologetic. She just said, ‘We do not rent to gay people.’”

For the past two and a half years, Pickel and Darren Black Bear have been in a committed relationship. During a search for a temporary home, the couple says it went to Affordable Suites of America, a long-term stay hotel located on Gion Street in Sumter.

…News19 contacted the hotel, posing as a potential renter, and inquired about two men staying in the same room. The receptionist who answered the phone told us the following: “Our policy is we don’t rent to two people of the same sex if we only have one bed.” “Is that your policy,” we asked. “That’s corporate policy because they only have one sleeping area.” We then asked, “Okay, but they can’t share the bed?” “I suppose they could, but most men don’t want to,” she said.

So, if there were two beds in the room, are they going to inspect the beds the next day to make sure both were slept in? How stupid is this? I'm not even sure I believe that it is "corporate policy" to deny two people of the same sex a hotel room - one bed, two beds, three beds. How could they possibly know who is partnered up and who is a sibling, who is a best friend or who is random roommate? This sounds like backwater, ignorant hick mess! I wish they'd stop!

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Yo McCain! Wanna Go For A Stroll?

Today was one of the deadliest days since the onset of the war - FOUR years ago. Yet, John McCain just boasted that you could walk around some neighborhoods in Baghdad just like the old days (of Saddam). I say he should go on a field trip without protection or an armored vehicle of any sort.

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed at least 62 people and wounded 27 in a market in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, police sources said. Most of the victims were women and children who had been out shopping in the crowded market in the Shi'ite district, a health ministry official said.

BAGHDAD - The bodies of 25 people were found in Baghdad, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire on a crowd in Shabab district in southern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding three, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed three people and wounded 16 in Jamiaa in western Baghdad, a police source said, adding that the bomb targeted an army patrol.

BAGHDAD - A senior academic at Baghdad's Mustansiriya university named Rida Qureishi was kidnapped, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed four policemen and one civilian and wounded nine more police in Jihad in southwest Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Police were checking a suspicious vehicle when it exploded.

Oh, and it isn't just Baghdad. Other "safe havens" saw their share of bloodshed today too!

KHALIS - At least three suicide car bombers launched almost simultaneous attacks in a mainly Shi'ite town, killing 53 people and wounding 103, police said. The blasts took place in Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad.

MOSUL - U.S. forces killed four armed men who fired on them during a raid in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said. U.S. forces also detained 15 suspected insurgents in that raid and others around Iraq against al Qaeda targets.

MAHMUDIYA - A car bomb killed four people and wounded 20 in a parking lot in Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. A local official in the town said eight people were killed and 12 wounded.

MAHMUDIYA - Two mortar bombs landed in a residential district of Mahmudiya, killing two people and wounding seven, police said.

MOSUL - Police arrested a leader of al Qaeda in Iraq in Mosul, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed Nawaf al-Hadidi, imam of a mosque in Mosul, in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday, police said.

But then, I guess I'm just being negative and "don't want to win."

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Closing Gitmo?

So after holding people, without a trial and for who knows what, the new Secretary of Defense wants to look into how we can close it.

Congress and the Bush administration should work together to allow the U.S. to permanently imprison some of the more dangerous Guantanamo Bay detainees elsewhere so the facility can be closed, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

Gates said the challenge is figuring out what to do with hard-core detainees who have "made very clear they will come back and attack this country."

He said it may require a new law to "address the concerns about some of these people who really need to be incarcerated forever, but that doesn't get them involved in a judicial system where there is the potential of them being released," Gates told the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.

Gates comments came as the Pentagon released the transcript from a Guantanamo hearing involving a Saudi linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. He said he got money transfers from two hijackers inside the United States hours before the planes struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, who was based in the United Arab Emirates on Sept. 11, 2001, denied that he was a member of the al-Qaida terrorist network and that he sent money to the hijackers.

Lawmakers said Thursday the Guantanamo facility hurts U.S. credibility with its allies. They asked that Gates give more thought to how it could be closed and detainees moved to a military prison.

"I hope that we can work to find some way to correct this problem, because as you say, it is a stain on our reputation and we can't afford it," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.

Gitmo has long since been a stain on our reputation. For the most part, we need to be afraid to let any of them go - including the ones who've been detained without just cause - because there will be some "git back" for Gitmo - whether action be taken by these detainees, their sons, their son's sons or some random folks who wanna do it on GP.

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Husbands Can't Rape

Even though I've met a few women who are a bit light in the head who've sheepishly asked if a husband could be guilty of rape, I am sick of folks like Phyllis Schafly screaming from the mountain tops that it is not a crime. Everyone is subject to the brainwashing effects of a patriarchal society so I see how even some smart women have seeds of doubt regarding something they know isn't right. But Phyllis Schafly's decrepit ass needs to give it a rest. Just because she was forced and didn't mind doesn't mean that others cannot consider it criminal.

Believe it.

Last night at Bates College, Phyllis Schlafly gave a lecture titled, "Conservatism vs. Feminism: The Great Debate" where at one point she contended that a woman can't get raped by her husband: "By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape."

I'm not married but I've been to enough weddings and would recall if the vows included anything about forced sex. Since forced sex really isn't about sex at all but rather domination, aggression, anger and power, I doubt most women in a free society would choose marriage if that is what it entailed. This isn't the Middle East afterall. Then again, perhaps that is why marriage rates are dropping and divorce rates are rising.

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The Where On Terror

In all but an emotional, hysterical level, there is no there there

The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America's psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us.

The damage these three words have done -- a classic self-inflicted wound -- is infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks when they were plotting against us in distant Afghan caves. The phrase itself is meaningless. It defines neither a geographic context nor our presumed enemies. Terrorism is not an enemy but a technique of warfare -- political intimidation through the killing of unarmed non-combatants.

But the little secret here may be that the vagueness of the phrase was deliberately (or instinctively) calculated by its sponsors. Constant reference to a "war on terror" did accomplish one major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear. Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue. The war of choice in Iraq could never have gained the congressional support it got without the psychological linkage between the shock of 9/11 and the postulated existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Support for President Bush in the 2004 elections was also mobilized in part by the notion that "a nation at war" does not change its commander in chief in midstream. The sense of a pervasive but otherwise imprecise danger was thus channeled in a politically expedient direction by the mobilizing appeal of being "at war ..."

Can We Say Bu-Bye Now?

Gonzales is a liar!

Today, under questioning from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sampson said, under oath, that he “shared information with anyone who wanted it.” Specifically, Sampson said he did share information with McNulty and Moschella prior to their testimonies before Congress. Schumer responded: “So the Attorney General’s statement is wrong, is false. How could it not be?” Sampson froze. Ultimately, he acknowledged Gonzales’s statement is “not accurate.” Watch it:

Update: Okay, I'm surprised. Sampson is throwing him under the bus for real!

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In The Words of Paul Mooney ...

... before he decided not to use the word anymore: "Er'body wanna be a n*gga but don't nobody wanna be a n*gga!"

At the annual Radio/Television Correspondents' Association Dinner last night, comedians Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood of Whose Line Is It Anyway? brought Karl Rove up on stage for a tribute rap song. Not as good as Colbert's roast of President Bush last year, but it's pretty damn funny to see Karl try to get down with his bad self.

Why do white folks (especially conservatives) get such a kick out of imitating the very thing they will be bashing the black community about in the next breath? I am unimpressed with MC Rove.

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And He's Bush's Friend ...

Well, isn't this interesting ...The King (means there is a monarchy and not a democracy) of Saudi Arabia has called our occupation of Iraq illegitimate.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, one of the United States' closest Arab allies, called the American presence in Iraq "illegitimate" on Wednesday as he opened a two-day summit here of the Arab League.

The characterization came amid growing signs that Saudi Arabia is distancing itself from Bush administration policies in the region.

The octogenarian monarch, swathed in traditional robes and speaking in a pained voice, also characterized as "unjust" the U.S.-led financial embargo of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority and urged its end in the wake of an agreement between Hamas and the moderate Fatah party to form a unity government.

Abdullah also criticized Arab leaders for infighting, which he said had caused nations to drift "further from unity than they were at the time of the founding of the Arab League," the 22-member body created in 1945.

Abdullah described a region awash with blood and beset by turmoil - from the sectarian battlegrounds of Iraq and Lebanon to the unresolved crisis in Sudan's Darfur region to brewing showdowns in Somalia and the Palestinian territories.

"In beloved Iraq, blood is shed among our brothers while there is an illegitimate foreign occupation and a hateful sectarianism that is threatening to develop into a civil war," the king said.

Abdullah neglected to mention the troubles in his own kingdom, where authorities are struggling to contain a radical Islamist movement and are cracking down on pro-reform activists.

"The real blame should be directed at us, the leaders of the Arab nation," Abdullah said. "Our constant disagreements and rejection of unity have made the Arab nation lose confidence in our sincerity and lose hope."

The king's remarks come at a time when Saudi Arabia is angling to bill itself as a regional power able to rein in warring factions and assert its authority in the face of a growing Iranian influence in the Middle East.

They told us there would be a domino effect of democracy spreading throughout the world. All I see are non-democratic nations being empowered even more. Imagine that!

Our Dictator Ally

I am always at a loss for words when I hear some pundits casually call the democratically elected Hugo Chavez of Venezuela a dictator. Yet, we are as thick as thieves with President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan who came to power in a military coup. They are supposed to be headed for democracy but guess what? Pervez says maybe not!

The fight against international terrorism cannot be won without demilitarizing and deradicalizing Pakistan. That's what makes Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's latest move so worrisome.

Mr. Musharraf took power more than seven years ago in a military coup. Since then, national conditions have markedly worsened. A military dictatorship justified as essential for bringing stability has actually taken the country to the edge.

Now, without drawing international attention, Musharraf has unveiled a plan that will make Pakistan's greatly awaited elections a farce. Under this plan, the outgoing parliament and four provincial legislatures would "elect" him to a new five-year term as president in the fall, before he oversees national polls a few months later. Five years ago, Musharraf orchestrated another charade – a referendum – to extend his self-declared presidency.

Musharraf's maneuver is the latest in a long series of broken promises to return his country to democracy. And it does not bode well for Pakistan's central challenge: moving away from militarism, extremism, and fundamentalism, and toward a stable, moderate state.

What Is He Talking About?

Chris Matthews is such a tool sometimes. Aside from Ann Coulter and select other screeching right wing nutjobs, what college-educate women is he talking about?

Speaking on MSNBC's Imus In the Morning show today, Chris Matthews said: "You only hear criticism of Hillary Rodham Clinton from smart, college-educated women. They're the ones that always have a problem with her." Matthews then explained that men "are afraid to talk like that."

Bad grammar aside, Matthews' statement is almost funny when you consider that he, a man, has practically made a second career of criticizing Clinton--not for her policies or her votes in the Senate, but for her gender. In December of 2004, Matthews said on Hardball that a Clinton candidacy would "motivate all the men in the country to vote against her." In November of 2006, he wondered "What is she going to do about her husband? She makes an acceptance speech, and there he is, just standing behind her, smiling and applauding."

And the very next month, Matthews wondered whether Sen. Clinton was "convincing" as a mom.

In his interview with Imus, Matthews made a big deal over his speculation that Clinton "puts up" with her husband's lifestyle so that he will raise money for her. In other words, Sen. Clinton is a whore who will do anything to get elected, another version of the "Oh, my--Hillary is ambitious" song and dance we've heard from everyone from Matthews to Maureen Dowd.

Yes, Sen. Clinton is ambitious, as is Barack Obama, who had barely set foot in the Senate when he decided he should be president of the United States. Or Rudy Giuliani, who gives speeches against backdrops of the tragedy of September 11. Or Mitt Romney, who suddenly repudiated several values he had publicly held for years. Lucky them--no one is criticizing them for their ambition.

For the most part, it is men, men, men (Democrat or Republican)who seem to be scared shitless at the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming President.

Beyond Ludicrous

I lost respect for John McCain so long ago but even I didn't think he'd start brazenly lying. What is wrong with him?

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told radio host Bill Bennett that President Bush’s escalation is working. “There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today,” he said. Today, when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked McCain why Americans still aren’t able to safely leave the Green Zone in Iraq, the senator replied that Blitzer was giving three-month-old talking points:

General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee. I think you oughta catch up. You are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don’t get it through the filter of some of the media.

But according to CNN reporter Michael Ware, who has been in Iraq for four years, McCain is “way off base.” He stated, “To suggest that there’s any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I’d love Sen. McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.”

Ware also rebutted McCain’s assertion that Petaeus travels in an unarmed humvee: “[I]n the hour since Sen. McCain’s said this, I’ve spoken to military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly the general travels in a humvee. There’s multiple humvees around it, heavily armed.” Watch it:

Update: Then he goes on CNN trying to backpedal on the lie! Of course the people who listen to Bill Bennett's show would never hear the "correction" because they wouldn't watch CNN. He's really focusing on rallying a band of idiots to support him in the election (assuming that dirty bird Gulliani doesn't get the nomination).

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Beyond Ignorant!

I wonder how this ill bred vermin got into the game in the first place.

America's Serena Williams was the target of a racist heckler at the Sony Ericsson on Monday, but held her nerve to record a third round victory over Czech Lucie Safarova.

Late in her 6-3 6-4 win over Safarova, the three-times champion in Miami complained to chair umpire Joan Vornbaum about the verbal abuse being directed at her by a spectator, who she said had been harassing her the entire match.

The WTA confirmed the spectator was removed by security staff and turned over to Miami Dade police.

"The guy said, 'Hit the net like a Negro would'," Williams told reporters.

"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I had to do a double take. I think I hit a double fault at that point.

"Who says these things outside of first grade. At a professional venue you don't do that. It was shocking, I couldn't believe he would stoop to that level.

Playing in her first event since winning the Australian Open in January, Williams said she had tried to ignore the heckling but finally had enough when the taunts became racist.

"I really should have said something sooner," she added.

"Even the people out there were pointing to who he was.

"The guy was saying things that shouldn't have been said. It was derogatory.

"Then every time I missed a shot or serve, he would say, 'That's the way to do it'.

"It was outrageous. I couldn't believe what he said."

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Money Grubbing

I thought that the whole premise of this book not being published was because it was in poor, poor taste and that it was an insult to the families of the victims. Why, then, is Fred Goldman out to get the rights to the book and probably use it for profit?

The rights to O.J. Simpson's book, "If I Did It," will be auctioned off April 17.

The book, in which Simpson explains how he might have committed the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, has been the subject of a legal battle between the former NFL star and Goldman's family.

The book and companion TV interview were never released amid public outrage.

Notice of the auction to be held by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has been sent to publishers, Hollywood studios and talent agencies, Goldman family attorney David Cook said.

It's unknown who will bid on the rights, but Cook said the Goldmans will do so if needed.

As tacky as the entire concept of the whole book is, I never thought it was worth all of the hysteria and worth Judith Regan losing her job. To have this thing being sold and not buried just shows that people really don't care about the victims, families or OJ's idiotic antics. People, Ron Goldman at the helm, care about grubbing a dollar.

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This Is Where Stupid Takes You!

Then half of Europe wonders why they can't get immigrants to "assimilate."

German judge: No divorce for Muslim woman because abuse is part of her culture

This is so fucked up on so many levels. A judge in Germany refused to give a woman who was being beaten by her husband a speedy divorce because Muslim women should be accustomed to abuse.

In January, the judge turned down the wife’s request for a speedy divorce, saying that the husband’s behavior was not an unreasonable hardship because they were both Moroccan. “In this cultural background,” she wrote, “it is not unusual that the husband uses physical punishment against the wife.”

Uh huh.

Kick His "Ask" Girlfriend!

The Record Is Broken

... and I wish he'd stop sounding like one. For crying out loud! This war that was supposed to be "weeks not months" has turned into four years! Soldiers are dying daily. They are losing minds, limbs, jobs, money and families. But the people who want to bring them home aren't supporting the troops.

Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday accused the Democrat-led House of not supporting troops in Iraq and of sending a message to terrorists that America will retreat in the face danger.

"They're not supporting the troops. They're undermining them," Cheney told a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition at the oceanside Ritz-Carlton hotel in Manalapan, Fla., about 60 miles north of Miami.

On Friday, the House voted to clamp a cutoff deadline on the Iraq war, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by next year.

The $124 billion House legislation would pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year but would require that combat troops come home from Iraq before September 2008 - or earlier if the Iraqi government does not meet certain requirements.

Cheney called it a myth that "one can support the troops without giving them the tools and reinforcements they need to carry out their mission."

President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation. Cheney said Bush will not withdraw troops before there is stability in Iraq.

"The American people have lost faith in the president's conduct of this war," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said after the passage. A message seeking comment was left with Pelosi's office Saturday.

Maybe It's Me

But why is it that a movie called "The Frog Princess" not sound very princess-ey?

The Walt Disney Co. has started production on an animated musical fairy tale called "The Frog Princess," which will be set in New Orleans and feature the Walt Disney Studio's first black princess.

The company unveiled the plans at its annual shareholders' meeting in New Orleans.

John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Disney and the Disney-owned unit Pixar Animation Studios, said the movie would return to the classic hand-drawn animation process, instead of using computer animation that has become the industry standard. He called the film "an American fairy tale."

"The film's New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture," Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said.

The movie will be scored by Randy Newman, who also wrote the music for Disney's "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc." and "Cars."

Newman performed a song from the score for the shareholders.

John Musker and Ron Clements, who co-directed "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," and "Hercules" will co-direct the movie. The pair also wrote the story for the film.

Disney said its new animated princess -- Maddy -- will be added to its collection of animated princesses used at the company's theme parks and on consumer products.

The film is set for release in 2009.

I'm not a fairy tale kind of girl (though I did love the songs in the Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella) and haven't seen any of the any of the animated Disney films that have been released over the past couple of decades. But, while a lot of black folks are going "finally!," I am wondering why this "Maddy" character has to be linked to frogs ... and why is her name Maddy (sounds like Mattie the maid to me)? I'm sure the finished product will be great, I'm just not too thrilled about the theme. Thank god I don't have a little girl who would force me to go see it with her.

Pants on FI--UR!

This man lies like a rug. He knew!

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.

The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.

There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings.

The documents indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general's conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who decided which prosecutors to fire and how to do it.

Justice spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said it was not immediately clear whether Gonzales gave his final approval to begin the firings at that meeting. Scolinos also said Gonzales was not involved in the process of selecting which prosecutors would be asked to resign.

On March 13, in explaining the firings, Gonzales told reporters he was aware that some of the dismissals were being discussed but was not involved in them.

"I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers - where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that's what I knew," Gonzales said last week. "But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That's basically what I knew as the attorney general."

Because They Know Bush Is Crazy

They are preparing for our attack just in case.

Several foreign embassies in Teheran are updating their emergency evacuation plans should a Western or Israeli attack on Iran occur.

According to foreign sources, foreign diplomats believe a possible attack would take place before the end of 2007. By that time, Iran might have enough enriched uranium to cause a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe from radioactive fallout should its nuclear facilities be damaged or destroyed in an attack.

Embassies in all countries generally have evacuation plans for their staff, but foreign sources describe the general atmosphere in Iran as one of heightened preparedness. Recently, several diplomatic missions based in Teheran have begun to reassess their plans, and embassies without permanent security officers have requested them.

Embassy experts reportedly are testing various evacuation options and logistics, such as timing routes to different destinations by different types of vehicles. The plans include evacuation for all staff.

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Oh Boy! A Third Front

Iraq is coming apart even at the one seam that was still slip stitched closed. I'm closing my eyes.

The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to derail the Baghdad security surge and open up a third front in the battle to save Iraq from disintegration.

Senior Bush administration officials have assured Turkey in recent days that US forces will increase efforts to root out Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) guerrillas enjoying safe haven in the Qandil mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.

But Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, MPs, military chiefs and diplomats say up to 3,800 PKK fighters are preparing for attacks in south-east Turkey — and Turkey is ready to hit back if the Americans fail to act. "We will do what we have to do, we will do what is necessary. Nothing is ruled out," Mr Gul said. "I have said to the Americans many times: suppose there is a terrorist organisation in Mexico attacking America. What would you do?... We are hopeful. We have high expectations. But we cannot just wait forever."

Turkish sources said "hot pursuit" special forces operations in Khaftanin and Qanimasi, northern Iraq, were already under way. Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader, said this week that a "mad war" was in prospect unless Ankara backed off.

Fighting between security forces and Kurdish fighters seeking autonomy or independence for Kurdish-dominated areas of south-east Turkey has claimed 37,000 lives since 1984. The last big Turkish operation occurred 10 years ago, when 40,000 troops pushed deep into Iraq. But intervention in the coming weeks would be the first since the US took control of Iraq in 2003 and would risk direct confrontation between Turkish troops and Iraqi Kurdish forces and their US allies.

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What's This? Cutting and Running?

But, I guess after you shoot up a bunch of innocent people, that's the honorable thing to do.

Marines accused of shooting and killing civilians after a suicide bombing in Afghanistan are under U.S. investigation, and their entire unit has been ordered to leave the country, officials said Friday.

Army Maj. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III, head of Special Operations Command Central, ordered the unit of about 120 Marines out of Afghanistan and initiated an investigation into the March 4 incident, said Lt. Col. Lou Leto, spokesman at Kearney's command headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

It is highly unusual for any combat unit, either special operations or conventional, to have its mission cut short.

A spokesman for the Marine unit, Maj. Cliff Gilmore, said it is in the process of leaving Afghanistan, but he declined to provide details on the timing and new location, citing a need for security.

In the March 4 incident in Nangahar province, an explosives-rigged minivan crashed into a convoy of Marines that U.S. officials said also came under fire from gunmen. As many as 10 Afghans were killed and 34 wounded as the convoy made an escape. Injured Afghans said the Americans fired on civilian cars and pedestrians as they sped away.

U.S. military officials said militant gunmen shot at Marines and may have caused some of the civilian casualties.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the incident, which was one among several involving U.S. forces in which civilians were killed and injured.

Leto, the spokesman at Special Operations Command Central headquarters, said the Marines, after being ambushed, responded in a way that created "perceptions (that) have really damaged the relationship between the local population and this unit."

Therefore, he said, "the general felt it was best to move them out of that area."

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$500 For That There Baby

Isn't this illegal or something? What is wrong with these folks? This precious fetus that folks are willing to blow up clinics over is only worth $500? What is it that they don't get that pregnancy isn't some process carried out on an assembly line? What would $500 cover in terms of a woman's bodily changes, expenses and emotional well being? It's clear that these people really don't view women as anything other than breeders. But $500 to endure pregnancy then sell the baby is insulting!

Ah Texas. Via culturekitchen we find out that Sen. Dan Patrick, a Republican talk-radio host from Houston and opponent of women's repro rights, is proposing a bill that would pay women $500 for giving their babies up for adoption rather than having abortions.

Under Patrick's SB 1567, AKA the Texas Baby Purchasing Act of 2007, women would qualify for a $500 payment from the state within 60 days of signing away all parental rights to their newborn children.

Wow, what a fucking deal! As Amanda notes, that's a baby-making wage of $.07 an hour. And they say republicans don't value women!

Someone mentioned this on an email list I'm on, and I had the same thought: this reminds me of the oh-so-lovely group that targets poor women and women of color to get sterilized for cash.

It's just so fucking insulting, I don't have the words.

Luckily, Bitch PhD does:

Honey, $500 isn't even going to pay for the extra groceries you'll eat during a pregnancy. Let alone the prenatal care, if you're not insured or on Medicaid, or the cost of the birth.

Senator Patrick, would you agree to take care of a neighbor's dog for nine months for a measly $500? Where the fuck do you get the balls to offer women $500 to rent out their uteruses and sell their children?

I think that men should be barred from the abortion discussion - particularly those who should have been one.

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Baby Too Black!

Are these people stupid, ignorant or both? What is it that they don't understand about genetics? If people of two different races mix, there is no telling what the child will look like. There will rarely be a perfect blend of the skin complexions of the parents coming out in the children. I know many, many people who are either lighter or darker than both of their parents. What race does this woman think she is? Regardless of where she is from, she looks like what is considered "black" in America. So the baby looks a slight (and I do mean slight) bit darker than the other child ('cause the baby looks to be the same color as the mama in my eyes). How can she call this child a "terrible mistake?"

After they saw a baby girl they had gone to a fertility clinic to conceive, her parents became convinced something was wrong, according to court papers.

The girl's skin was darker than either parent's, a judge wrote in allowing the parents to proceed with a lawsuit that claims the clinic botched the insemination of the wife's eggs. The ruling was made public Wednesday.

"While we love Baby Jessica as our own, we are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her; it is simply impossible to ignore," state Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam's decision quoted parents Thomas and Nancy Andrews as saying.

"We are conscious of and distressed by this mistake each and every time we appear in public," the judge quoted the Andrewses' affidavit as saying.

The couple, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses.

The Andrewses' court papers say that on the advice of Dr. Martin Keltz, the couple agreed to in vitro fertilization of the eggs with Thomas Andrews' sperm so they could have a child who was biologically their own. However, their court papers say, the clinic was negligent and used another man's sperm.

Three DNA tests -- a home kit and two professional laboratory tests -- confirmed that Thomas Andrews was not the baby's father, the judge quoted the couple as saying.

The judge said the Andrewses complain that they have been forced to raise a child who is "not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are."

Just when it seems that black Americans are phasing out of the color complex issues that have plagued us since slavery, these new immigrants (also impacted by colonialism and imperialism) are coming here and starting the same stuff over again. The real issue to me is these folks coming here thinking they are getting something special when they find somebody white when some of these creepy, reject men would be on their way out of the gene pool in their own communities.

That baby got the "darker skin" from the mother, not the father, or does she not understand the African influence in the Dominican Republic? Yes, they have an issue if they gave her the wrong sperm but that child is not of a different race. She is her mother's race. She needs to be thankful the child doesn't look more like that ugly dude she married ... thinking she was going to have some white looking child. I sure hope they don't talk like that around the house or that child will be screwed up for life!

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Update On The Mess We've Made

A few news nuggets via Juan Cole.

US troops found caches of chlorine and nitric acid in guerrilla storehouses in the Ghazaliya district of Baghdad on Thursday, raising the specter that the guerrillas are increasingly turning to chemical weapons. They have conducted several attacks using chlorine gas.

The US is attempting to avert a potentially disastrous Turkish military intervention in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Turks accuse Kurdistan of harboring 3600 guerrillas of the radical Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), who, it says, are committing acts of terrorism in eastern Anatolia and then slipping back over the border into Iraq. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is threatening hot pursuit by Turkish troops across that border. Such an incursion could set off the tinderbox that is northern Iraq.

Prince Hassan of Jordan supports Turkey in this regard. He warns against an ethno-religious breakup of Iraq, saying it will lead to the Balkanization of the entire Middle East.

Total's CEO has been detained in connection with a bribery charge related to Total's interest in Iranian petroleum.

Iraqi Christians are being forced to flee their country by the violence and because they are sometimes targeted by Sunni Arab guerrillas who wrongly associate them with the West. This article estimates them at 5% of the Iraqi population, which is probably incorrect. There were 800,000 or so of them before the war, but my understanding is that they may be down to 500,000 now, which would make them 2 percent of the population. Likewise, it strikes me as highly unlikely that 40% of Iraqis fleeing the country are Christian. The vast majority of Iraqi expatriates (some 800,000) in Jordan are Sunni Arabs, e.g.

There is so little safe water in Iraq that this summer a major cholera epidemic could break out, the UN is warning.

No More Discounts!

Well, I doubt college students are going to stop having sex so this just looks like a recipe for disaster.

Millions of college students are suddenly facing sharply higher prices for birth control, prompting concerns among health officials that some will shift to less preferred contraceptives or stop using them altogether.

Prices for oral contraceptives, or birth control pills, are doubling and tripling at student health centers, the result of a complex change in the Medicaid rebate law that essentially ends an incentive for drug companies to provide deep discounts to colleges.

"It's a tremendous problem for our students because not every student has a platinum card," said Hugh Jessop, executive director of the health center at Indiana University.

There, he said, women are paying about $22 per month for prescriptions that cost $10 a few months ago. "Some of our students have two jobs, have children," Jessop said. "To increase this by 100 percent or more overnight, which is what happened, is a huge shock to them and to their system."

They can give a discount on contraception or give a discount on pre-natal care and abortions. Choice seems simple to me.

This Is Harassment!

This is insane! How are you going to make someone look at an ultra sound? How can you pass a law to force someone to have a medical procedure. These zygote/fetus freaks are out of control.

With calls of emotional blackmail from opponents, a measure requiring women seeking abortions to first review ultrasound images of their fetuses advanced Wednesday in the South Carolina Legislature.

The legislation, supported by Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, passed 91-23 after lawmakers defeated amendments exempting rape or incest. The House must approve the bill again in a routine vote before it goes to the Senate, where its sponsor expects it to pass with those exemptions.

Some states make ultrasound images available to women before an abortion, but South Carolina would be alone in requiring women to view the pictures.

Critics consider the proposal a tool to intimidate women who already have made an agonizing decision.

"You love them in the womb, but once they get here, it's a different story," said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a Democrat and a social worker. "You're sitting here passing judgment? Who gave you the right?"

Proponents hope women will change their minds after seeing an ultrasound.

I am pro-life outside of the womb. The forced pregnancy/pro-birth people seem to fade into the woodwork after women (i.e. baby machines) give birth. I love babies more than most folks but I also want every baby to be wanted and be a welcome addition to a family. There are far too many abused, neglected and unwanted children growing up in poverty, headed for the prison system and just plain living nightmarish lives. You can't make life about getting here. You have to make it about being here and being happy, productive and safe.

In Addition To Being A Big Fat Idiot ...

I agree! He's irrelevant

After repeatedly being asked about his conservative critics, including talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped his diplomatic veneer Tuesday and declared their views irrelevant to his work in California.

"All irrelevant. Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant. I am not his servant," the governor said on NBC's "Today" show.

Limbaugh then declared on his radio program that Schwarzenegger, lacking the communications skills to persuade Californians of his Republican values, had sold them out.

"If he had the leadership skills to articulate conservative principles and win over the public as [former President] Reagan did, then he would have stayed conservative," said Limbaugh, who is often seen as the embodiment of all conservative viewpoints.

Uh, yeah ... People loved the President with Alzheimer's (and I knew something wasn't right with Reagan long before he left office) the way they love dumb Dubya. That says a lot about that crowd.

The tiff marked Schwarzenegger's most high-profile repudiation of a conservative critic. Many fellow Republicans view his support of stem-cell research, mandatory curbs on carbon dioxide emissions and universal healthcare as a betrayal of his party's ideals.

In the NBC interview, Schwarzenegger said he was "the people's servant of California. What they call me — Democrat or Republican or in the center, this and that — that is not my bottom line. This is for them to talk about."

Limbaugh said in an interview after his radio show that Schwarzenegger's recent agreements with Democrats in the Legislature "are not compromises, they are capitulations."

The governor, he said, may have been "just tired of answering questions about me, and he wanted to say … 'I don't work for Rush Limbaugh, I work for the people of California.' "

Even though I went to the polls with a mallet to knock down all of those proposed initiatives during the Governator's special election, I must say that after he got his butt kicked, he changed his tune drastically and became a Governor who listened to the people - not a servant of his narrow party. I still didn't vote to re-elect him last November but I knew he was going to win and was okay with it. So, ditto on the irrelevancy of Rush Limbaugh and every other ridiculous blow hard with no real input.