When I first read this story, I was worried. How could America, the country with the most kick-ass military, be so concerned with some crazy new weapon that the Shiite militia is using?
Then I re-read the first two paragraphs:
Suspected Shiite militiamen have begun using powerful rocket-propelled bombs to attack U.S. military outposts in recent months, broadening the array of weapons used against American troops.
U.S. military officials call the devices Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions, or IRAMs. They are propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and powered by 107mm rockets. They are often fired by remote control from the backs of trucks, sometimes in close succession. Rocket-propelled bombs have killed at least 21 people, including at least three U.S. soldiers, this year.
Did ya catch that? The all-to-subtle acronym "U.S. military officials" are using? Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions. IRAMs. Doesn't that sound/look familiar?
Today's the day Scott McClellan (hopefully) squeals. Or C-Span puts it:
House Committee
CIA Leak Investigation
Judiciary
Washington, District of Columbia (United States)
Conyers, John Jr. U.S. Representative, D-MI
McClellan, Scott Press Secretary (2003-2006), White House
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testified about reported efforts to cover up the role of the White House in the leaking of the informtion that Valerie Plame Wilson was a Central Intelligence Agency covert operative.
On some level, Joe Lieberman must enjoy his position: being in the limelight with a presidential candidate of one party, and enjoying a strange sense of immunity on the other party because of his past affiliations. But as this LA Times story says, that enjoyment may come to an end in about five months:
If Democrats expand their Senate majority in November, the Connecticut senator could find himself in a political no man's land. But at least until then, he holds a coveted committee chairmanship and has attracted no hint of retribution. After all, Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, is crucial to their maintaining their tenuous 51-49 Senate majority.
Only the most uninformed voter in America would fall for this drivel:
John McCain, who credits his defiant defense of the Iraq war for his comeback victory in the Republican primaries, is using his first major television ad of the general election to show his dovish side.
"Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," McCain says over mournful strings against a bleak backdrop, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. "I hate war, and I know how terrible its costs are."
Of course he does; according to him, McCain suggested the oh-so famous "surge" in Iraq! But don't expect him to make any kind of connection here.
A woman featured prominently in Michael Moore's 2007 health-care documentary, "Sicko," is running as a Democrat this fall against Republican Livingston County Commissioner Dave Domas.
Adrian Campbell Montgomery, a 2000 Hartland High School graduate, moved from Oakland County back to Hartland Township this year and is already hoping to make an impact locally.
"One thing is the roads — I think that they need major attention, as well as our health department. Of course, that's obviously in my heart," said Montgomery, 26. "Another thing is the senior centers in the county. I really feel that they need more focus on expanding some of them, the buildings, if possible."
She already has a platform (infrastucture and health care)! Too cool.
Forget the Polar Bears; the way things are going, George W. Bush may have to list the Republican Party as endangered. Short of resurrecting Ronald Reagan, it looks like the GOP won't be able to avoid a total collapse.
And they know it.
Who would have thought that labeling Barack Obama as an elitist militant Christian Muslim terrorist sympathizer would backfire? That "supporting" Hillary Clinton after years of labeling her (and her husband) a monster would be met with skepticism? That the countless scandals, the dismissal of domestic issues and the transparent lipservice paid to our brave troops would have more of an impact on voters then lapel pins, gay marriage and playing the "Greatest Hits of 9-11" 24/7?
As I was watching one of my favorite non-Transformers: The Movie movie, I came to realize that there's some eerie similarities between what's been going on in politics and a movie where Kurt Russell played a legitimate badass.
MR. GIBSON: And Senator Obama, I want to do one more question, which goes to the basic issue of electability. And it is a question raised by a voter in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a woman by the name of Nash McCabe. Take a look.
NASH MCCABE (Latrobe, Pennsylvania): (From videotape.) Senator Obama, I have a question, and I want to know if you believe in the American flag. I am not questioning your patriotism, but all our servicemen, policemen and EMS wear the flag. I want to know why you don't.
Thanks to Crooks & Liars (and in truth Jon Stewart) I've come to realize that President Bush's biggest Iraq problem is that he can't define "victory" as well as he can define "failure."
In regards to ending the occupation of Iraq, he's essentially said it won't happen until there's victory. What's "victory?" Hard to say, since he's claimed military success regardless of whether the number of US soldiers killed goes up or down.
In the wake of seeing people fawn over that fact that Sen. John McCain dusted off a ten-year-old idea, I thought I'd list some reasons I'd never, ever ever vote for the guy...
John McCain doesn't believe in anything but winning.
Tomorrow will be the closest America will get to having a cross-party primary debate (even if it is about one issue). As the Washington Post puts it:
When Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker travel to Capitol Hill tomorrow, they might be the ones before the microphones, but the cameras will be trained on three of their inquisitors: Sens. John McCain, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
The hearings before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees promise to be as much about presidential politics as about the past six months of military and diplomatic progress in Iraq. All last summer, Washington anxiously awaited the September appearances of Petraeus, the commanding U.S. general in Iraq, and Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat in Baghdad, anticipating that their testimony could determine the political viability of continued war.
Long before taking office as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke wrote an article with some other academics calling for the Fed to demystify its actions and pronouncements.
"The ‘just trust us’ approach may work in a period when the chair and the board of governors command widespread support," he and three colleagues wrote in Foreign Affairs. "But the happy state of affairs will not last forever."
It certainly did not survive beyond last month. That was when the Fed played midwife in JPMorgan Chase’s absorption of the investment firm Bear Stearns, while accepting $30 billion worth of questionable mortgage-related assets as collateral for a Fed loan that enabled the deal.
My, my, my...how did we get to this point? When the Democratic Primary began, race, religion, gender and other such things didn't matter as much as a person's stances on the issues and their legislative and/or executive record.
As a participant on this site, my primary concern was finding a Democrat who was both progressive enough to set a new path for this country and moderate enough to get the crucial independent, undecided and Frustrated Republican votes. When the field was narrowing down, I kept my "criteria" and eventually made my choice electorially. I've stopped short of saying "I can't vote for candidate X" because as I've always believed our "worst" is ten times better than their "best."
St. Louis area's unemployment rate jumped to 6.3 percent in January, up from 5.5 percent in January 2007 and 0.9 percent higher than the national unemployment rate of 5.4 percent, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
The St. Louis area's unemployed numbered 90,700 in January, up from 78,800 in January 2007 and 78,900 in December 2007. St. Louis once again had the highest rate of unemployment of any metropolitan area studied in the state. Columbia, Jefferson City, Joplin, Kansas City, St. Joseph and Springfield are the other Missouri cities the Bureau of Labor Statistics studies.
As a whole, Missouri's unemployment rate reached 6.0 percent in January, an increase from the January 2007 rate of 5.2 percent. Illinois' unemployment rate reach 6.2 percent in January, up 1.0 percent from the January 2007 rate of 5.2 percent.
