Today In Iraq

Cartoon by Clay Bennett

Highest Civilian Death Toll To Date: 3400 in the month of July; 110/day

Bush's Summer Reading Includes 'The Stranger' by Camus?

"On his summer vacation in Crawford, Texas, George Bush read Albert Camus' novel The Stranger. "

"Whatever the reasons, Camus' story line is ripe for geopolitical literary misinterpretation. The main character, Meursault, spends much of his life as the young George Bush did, engaging in escapades that demonstrate little drive or motivation. On a visit to the beach with friends, he gets into a fight with some Arabs. Later, he finds one of the Arabs and without much further provocation shoots him repeatedly. During the circus-trial that follows, and the long hours Meursault spends in jail, he is remorseless and unable to engage in contemplation. On the day of his execution, he has a flickering thought that he might have lived another life. But mostly he's excited about the day and hopes that everyone will cheer for his death."

Brookers News

Republican Legislators In Missouri Pass New Voter Suppression Tactic

"The Republican legislators who pushed through Missouri’s ID law earlier this year said they wanted to deter fraud, but that claim falls apart on close inspection. Missouri’s new ID rules — and similar ones adopted last year in Indiana and Georgia — are intended to deter voting by blacks, poor people and other groups that are less likely to have driver’s licenses."

"Missourians who have driver’s licenses will have little trouble voting, but many who do not will have to go to considerable trouble to get special ID’s. The supporting documents needed to get these, like birth certificates, often have fees attached, so some Missourians will have to pay to keep voting. It is likely that many people will not jump all of the bureaucratic hurdles to get the special ID, and will become ineligible to vote. "

Kos' s Latest on Lieberman Loss; Lamont Win:

#1 Hillary writes a check endorsing Lamont

#2 Evan Bayh now, publically, supports Lamont

#3 Christopher Dodd, trying to talk Lieberman out of running as Independent

#4 Raum Emmanuel slams Harvey Milk Toast aka Lieberman(Mike Malloy's invention)

#5 John Edwards was the first to call Lamont and give him, his support

and more....

Capitalists At Their Best

"They all hope to watch a rock the size of two Empire State Buildings collapse onto the canyon floor nearly 700 feet below, as retreating glacier ice robs a cliff face on the eastern edge of the Eiger Mountain of its main support..."


Global Warming is Great

Lieberman Email Hacked

From MSNBC "The Lieberman campaign said it blamed "political opponents," for the cyberattack, though it offered no evidence for the accusation. "

The 'hack' is news, but...., the accusation? MSM giving Lieberman all the help he can get.

Soldier at rape-murder hearing describes conditions in Iraq

"Stressed-out soldiers are drinking whiskey and downing painkillers to try to cope with "mentally draining" duty in Iraq, a private testified Tuesday.

Cross told the military hearing that some of those accused of rape and murder were among colleagues who drank whiskey and cough syrup and swallowed painkillers to cope with their jobs.
The accused soldiers were drinking whiskey when one of them raised the idea of raping the girl...."

I Am So Frustrated: Spielberg and Katzenberg Endorse Schwartznegger!!!!

I don't get it. Is this the epitomy of irony? Please, somebody, help me.

Arnie's record:

- terminating California's lawsuits against the energy trading companies for their swindling and induced power outages(Enron payoff).

- Proposes to balance the budget by borrowing money.

- "Those nurses don't like me because I'm always kicking their butts."

- executed Tookie Williams

- tried shutting down teacher unions and erode teacher unions ability to collect funds

- allowing Diebold and ES&S to get another foothold despite being decertified

- Schwarzenegger said he would take no special interest money. HE HAS TAKEN $95,000,000.

- Schwarzenegger was an illegal immigrant who worked on a tourist visa and paid no taxes on his bodybuilder earnings.

- bragged about ripping off Northridge earthquake victims

- has authoritarian views that are unamerican. He has a history of abuse of women. He made some of the most violent movies in history, which he thinks are funny.

- Does not support Proposition 89, the Clean Elections initiative of California.

Positives:

- embraced stem cell research

- apologized for those stupid initiatives he put on the ballot

- blew off a potential, public meeting with Bush.

- got booed by all his con buddies when he proposed spending money to upgrade the state infrastructure (levees included)

- just met with Tony Blair and said we need to do something about global warming (smacked Bush!).

Interesting blogger comments from crooksandliar.com:

"California Democrats only have themselves to blame. They nominated Angelides- maybe the nerdiest, least charismatic candidate in California gubernatorial election history. This guy makes Gray Davis look like Pat Tillman.

"It worked so well for Germany to import an uneducated, disturbed, fake-populist, right-wing authoritarian Austrian as "Leader" and head of government, gosh, why not America? It's Morning In America, again, and Springtime For Arnold. It's the Right-Wing American Nightmare. "Sleep tight, children." (Here come the cyanide caps and the Zyklon B.)"

Aung San Suu Kyi has a MySpace website

"Spending 11 of the last 16 years under house arrest, she currently leads a popular, non-violent, struggle for democracy, human rights, and freedom in Burma. In 1990, the year of Burma's last democratic election, Suu Kyi's party The National League for Democracy won an overwhelming 82% of the seats in Parliament; however, the military regime ruling Burma refused to honor the results of the election, instead opting to imprison hundreds of rightfully elected political leaders and rule the country with brutal force. One year later, and while still under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Today she remains the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the world. "

Summer of Goodbyes...
Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words “Leave your area or else.” The culprits behind these attacks and threats are Sadr’s followers- Mahdi Army.

For me, June marked the first month I don’t dare leave the house without a hijab, or headscarf. I don’t wear a hijab usually, but it’s no longer possible to drive around Baghdad without one. It’s just not a good idea. (Take note that when I say ‘drive’ I actually mean ‘sit in the back seat of the car’

I sometimes wonder if we’ll ever know just how many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis left the country this bleak summer. I wonder how many of them will actually return. Where will they go? What will they do with themselves? Is it time to follow? Is it time to wash our hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else?"

Photo found on blog: Sisu

How to Hack a Diebold Voting Machine

Tools needed: phillips screwdriver and usb flash/thumb drive.