8 MORE SHOCKING REVELATIONS ABOUT SARAH PALIN

Since the McCain campaign apparently didn't even bother Googling Sarah Palin before picking her to join the Republican ticket, we've taken it upon ourselves to compile some important -- and terrifying -- revelations about Palin.

By Isaac Fitzgerald and Tana Ganeva, AlterNetPosted on September 3, 2008, Printed on September 3, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/97350/

Yesterday AlterNet ran a piece titled "Top Ten Most Disturbing Facts and Impressions of Sarah Palin." And in only 24 hours, almost as many exaggerations, misrepresentations and outright lies have reared their ugly heads. If you already read yesterday's piece, here's the next installment:

1: Palin Tried to Ban Books From Local Library
Thanks to Bush, the Republican Party is not strongly associated with intellectualism. But Sarah Palin has apparently taken the conservative derision for book-learnin' to a whole new level: Time reports that as mayor of Wasilla, Palin asked the town librarian how to go about banning books from the local library. News reports from the time show that the librarian, who, strangely enough, was opposed to a tactic commonly employed by totalitarian regimes, had her job threatened for not giving her "full support" to the mayor.
The People for the American Way have issued a statement condemning Palin's actions and demanding an explanation from her:
People can disagree about a lot of things, but censorship is completely beyond the pale. Our democracy was founded on the belief that government shouldn't tell people what kinds of books to read or what kind of beliefs to hold. No one with that kind of history should be anywhere near the White House. Sarah Palin needs to clarify her stance on freedom of speech immediately, and John McCain needs to explain why he chose a running mate with so little regard for the Constitution.
So far the McCain campaign has been quiet about Palin's attempts to legislate what books people should be allowed to read.

2: Palin Apparently Doesn't Put "Country First"
A central and integral part of the McCain campaign's message is "Country First." McCain is a POW who has always put country before personal gain, as he and his handlers have reminded the public time after time after time. So if the vetting process of Palin was as thorough as McCain's people (and McCain himself) have been claiming, how is it that they missed this:
Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which since the 1970s has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.
And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First -- Alaska Always."
Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.
"We are a state's rights party," Clark -- a self-employed gold miner -- tells ABC News. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."
"Alaska First -- Alaska Always." Huh, I don't suppose there's an unless-you-are-nominated-to-be-vice-president clause, is there? No, probably not.

3: Palin's Love Affair With Earmarks
McCain, when introducing Palin on Friday in Ohio, praised her as a champion for "reform to end the abuses of earmark spending." When it was Palin's turn to speak, she mentioned her claimed opposition to the famous pork barrel project, "the Bridge to Nowhere," as an example of her tough stance on earmarks. Well, we all know now that she was actually for the bridge long before she was against it. Apparently her love affair with earmarks doesn't end there:
… under her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year's federal budget …
But hey, it was her first shot at being governor of Alaska. Maybe things were different when she was mayor?
As mayor of the small city of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin appears to have made use of the system she now decries, hiring a Washington lobbyist, Steven Silver, to represent the town.
After he was hired, the city obtained funding for several projects, including a city bus facility that received an earmark valued at $600,000 in 2002. That year a local water and sewer project received $1.5 million in federal earmarks, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog organization.
Hmmm, Steven Silver, why does that name sound familiar? Talking Points Memo is quick to remind us:
… Silver appears to have additional ties that could further undercut Palin's image as a squeaky-clean reformer. According to Senate lobbying disclosure reports examined by TPMmuckraker, from 2002 to 2004 Silver listed as a client Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. On Greenberg's behalf, Silver lobbied the federal government on "issues relating to Indian/Native American policy," "exploration for oil and gas" and "legislation relating to gaming issues" -- the very issues that Abramoff headed up for Greenberg at the time. In other words, Silver appears to have been a part of "Team Abramoff.
So this is the breath of fresh air that McCain wants in Washington? Earmarks aplenty and links to the infamous Jack Abramoff? If that's a step in the right direction, I don't want to see the step in the wrong one.

4: Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms
Not many pregnant teens are as privileged as Bristol Palin. And for those who are not, Sarah Palin made things a little harder a few months ago when she used a line-item veto to cut funding for a transitional home for teen moms in Alaska. According to the Washington Post:
After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Inking her initials on the legislation -- "SP" -- Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.
According to Passage House's Web site, its purpose is to provide "young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives" and help teen moms "become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families."
(It certainly doesn't sound like the teen moms were joyriding in Cadillacs on the government's dime, but you never know.)
In classic "compassionate" conservative fashion, Palin opposes programs that teach girls how not to get pregnant, lobbies against their right to decide whether to have a child, then kills social programs that exist to cushion the impact of those policies. She then has the gall to trot out her own pregnant daughter as a symbol for "family values."

5: Crazy Reverend, Crazy Church
From the age of 12 and for most of her adult life, Sarah Palin attended the Wasilla Assembly of God. Apparently, Sarah Palin's God was a vengeful God -- one that made Himself helpful to the Bush administration from time to time by damning critics of the president, Democrats and other irredeemable sinners. The Huffington Post writes that the church's preacher, Ed Kalinins:
… preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."
Kalinins also offered a nuanced view of foreign policy, preaching that 9/11 and the Iraq war were part of a greater struggle over Christianity, with Jesus playing an important role as a very exacting general:
"What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what's going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. … We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. … Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die.
It can't necessarily be assumed that Palin agrees wholeheartedly with her former pastor. But in an address to the church three months ago, Palin also used disconcertingly religious language to frame the conflict in Iraq:
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending (U.S. soldiers) out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Considering how much flak Obama got for the statements of his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, this is an issue Palin needs to address.

6: McCain Picking Palin Reeks of Sexism
The McCain campaign is already doing its best to deflect all the negative stories that are coming out about Palin by calling Democrats sexist, and by claiming that they are the party that values women's rights. Of course, Dems had a woman on the presidential ticket in 1984 (Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro), so Republicans aren't breaking glass ceilings here but are actually 24 years late to the party. When it comes to sexism, it seems the party that isn't for equal pay or for a woman's right to choose should take a quick look in the mirror before accusing others of sexism. In fact, McCain's idea that women will vote for the McCain/Palin ticket just because Palin has a vagina is incredibly condescending, as Ann Friedman at the American Prospect writes:
Palin's addition to the ticket takes Republican faux-feminism to a whole new level. As Adam Serwer pointed out on TAPPED, this is in fact a condescending move by the GOP. It plays to the assumption that disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters did not care about her politics -- only her gender. In picking Palin, Republicans are lending credence to the sexist assumption that women voters are too stupid to investigate or care about the issues, and merely want to vote for someone who looks like them. As Serwer noted, it's akin to choosing Alan Keyes in an attempt to compete with Obama for votes from black Americans.
A candidate should be chosen because they are qualified for the job, not because of their gender. Any hardworking woman who has been passed over for a promotion could have told the McCain campaign that.

7: Palin Can't Even Run a Car Wash
Many politicians have a strong background in business: CEOs, executives, business presidents, self-made millionaires, etc. The thinking is that a businessperson is economically savvy, has executive experience, and can make tough calls and quick decisions. Well, Palin has some experience in the private sector: While she was mayor of Wasilla, Palin had time to open up a car wash in Anchorage. Good for her, nothing wrong with a little public service cushioned by some private business while raising a family. But by the time Palin was governor of Alaska, her business had run into trouble, as Matthew Mosk reports for the Washington Post:
State records show the business ran into trouble with Alaska's division of corporations business and professional licensing after Palin became governor of the state in 2006.
A Feb. 11, 2007, letter to the governor's business partner advises that the car wash had "not filed its biennial report and/or paid its biennial fees," which were more than a year overdue.
The warning letter was written on state letterhead, which carried Palin's name at the top, next to the state seal.
On April 3, 2007, the state went further and issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" because of the car wash's failure to file its report and pay state licensing fees.
The least you can accuse Palin here is of mismanagement (of a car wash!); at worst, she was abusing her political clout by trying to cut corners. Either way, Palin doesn't come off as the kind of executive you'd want running your business, let along your country.

8: Lied About Foreign Travel
In an attempt to inflate her nonexistent foreign policy credentials, Palin's spokespeople stated shortly after her nomination that she had traveled to Germany, Kuwait and Ireland: you know, the three countries most likely to give rise to catastrophic national security emergencies in the next four years.
But not only is Palin's travel history unimpressive, it was also being blatantly misrepresented. According Jim Aravosis, an Irish blogger has just revealed that Palin was in Ireland for a brief refueling layover.
And as Aravosis argues, Palin's lack of travel experience outside of "duty-free diplomacy" has major implications:

… John McCain, who is 72 and has had 4 bouts of cancer, (has) picked Sarah Palin to replace him as commander in chief should he die or be incapacitated in office.

CHICAGO COLUMNIST SAYS PALIN NOT ON BOARD STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS

Palin not on board Straight Talk Express

McCain's VP pick blows credibility, missing prime teaching moment

September 2, 2008

http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/1139356,CST-NWS-mitch02.article

MARY MITCHELL marym@suntimes.com

ST. PAUL -- Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

Those are the last words a 44-year-old woman with an infant wants to hear from a teenage daughter.

Not many of us can truly say we want to become a granny before we qualify for our AARP discount membership card.

But Palin, John McCain's surprise pick for VP, is a real trouper.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news, that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in a statement released Monday.

Malarkey.

When an unmarried 17-year-old girl comes up pregnant on the South Side of Chicago, Republicans don't make it sound like a beautiful thing.

They call it tragic and a moral failure, and they often blame the teen's parents.
There's no way to put a positive spin on a teen in this kind of trouble.

Indeed, teenage pregnancies rose by 3 percent between 2005 and 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unfortunately, leaders like Palin are part of the problem.

When she was running for governor in 2006, Palin said she would fund abstinence-only programs and that "explicit sex-ed programs" would not get her support.

But studies have proven that abstinence-only programs alone don't work.

Given her daughter's predicament, Palin might want to rethink her position.

Although it sounds nice that Bristol will be marrying the "young man" who fathered her child, the fact of the matter is marriage is hard work for adults, let alone a teenager.

And when 17-year-old girls decide to throw caution to the wind and risk their sexual health by having unprotected sex, then they haven't been paying attention to the messages adults have been sending.

But Palin, who is being touted as the down-to-earth candidate who can appeal to the working class, sounded like any other politician when she talked about her daughter's "news."

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," Palin said.
More malarkey.

This is not good news, nor is it something the average woman wants to deal with, especially in the public arena.

Palin should have acknowledged the disappointment and pain any mother feels when she learns her teenage daughter has stumbled onto this tough road.

But Palin hid behind scripted words and blew the chance to have an honest dialogue about a problem that affects Republicans and Democrats alike.

Still, some good can come from all of this after all.

Conservatives like Palin have been hard on young, unwed, pregnant women in urban areas.

Maybe now that she is in the same boat, they'll show a little more compassion.

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: U.S. SOLDIERS KILL INSURGENTS

This graphic video captures up close an attack by U.S. soldiers in Iraq on insurgents. Warning: Some of the footage is VERY GRAPHIC.

Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/rnjD0REckn0&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video

VIDEO: SCOTT RITTER, RAY McGOVERN ON PALIN, McCAIN AND THE IRAQ WAR

Scott Ritter and Ray McGovern, two of the most respected analysts and journalists in the United States, talk about how foreign nations will look at GOP veep pick Sarah Palin and GOP presidenital choice John McCain on the IRAQ WAR.

This compelling video is well worth the time to watch as these two foreign policy experts discuss Sarah Palin and John McCain.

Ray McGovern dissects what John McCain's goal were regarding IRAQ and how McCain ignored evidence which indicated IRAQ did not have weapons of mass destruction.

Scott Ritter is a former weapons inspector and he talks about what the Bush administrtion knew about IRAQ's "weapons" program and how they misled the American public into war with Iraq.

Watch video here: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2193

McCAIN FORGOT ABOUT THESE U.S. CASUALTIES WHEN HE SAID "THE IRAQ WAR HAS BEEN WON"

John McCain likes to boast to the press about how the "war has been won" in Iraq, however McCain apparently doesn't know about the following list of 23 U.S. soldiers and Marines who have died in IRAQ in August alone.

The list contains names, hometowns and cause of death and you can click on each name to obtain further information on each soldier or Marine who have been KILLED in IRAQ during the month of August.

Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=4-2008

Date
Total
Name
Place of Death - Province
Cause of Death
28-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Jorge L. Feliz Nieve
Mosul - Ninawa
Non-hostile - vehicle accident

US
Specialist Michael L. Gonzalez
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
27-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant David K. Cooper
Qadasiyah - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
26-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Carlo E. Alfonso
Baghdad (Sadr City)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
25-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Steven J. Fitzmorris
Adhamiyah - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
19-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
George Stanciel
Amarah - Maysan
Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
17-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Lance Corporal Travis M. Stottlemyer
Manama - NA
Non-hostile
14-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Private Janelle F. King
Baghdad
Non-hostile

US
Private 1st Class Daniel A. C. McGuire
Falluja - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
13-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Corporal James M. Hale
Baghdad (northwestern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
10-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Michael H. Ferschke Jr.
Tikrit (southwest of) - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

US
Sergeant Kenneth B. Gibson
Tarmiya - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
09-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Jose E. Ulloa
Baghdad (Sadr City)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
07-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Main Sergeant Danny E. Maybin
Camp Arifjan - NA
Non-hostile

US
Corporal Stewart S. Trejo
Karma - Anbar
Non-hostile

US
Corporal Adam T. McKiski
Karma - Anbar
Non-hostile
04-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Private Timothy J. Hutton
Baghdad
Non-hostile

US
Specialist Jonathan D. Menke
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED

US
Sergeant Gary M Henry
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED
03-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Ronald Andrew Schmidt
Baghdad
Non-hostile - vehicle accident
02-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Brian K. Miller
Abd Allah - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - vehicle accident

US
Private 1st Class Jennifer L. Cole
Baiji - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - gunshot wound

US
Specialist Kevin R. Dickson
Balad - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile
Total
23
US: 23 UK: 0 Other: 0

McCAIN SAYS WE HAVE WON THE WAR IN IRAQ: HE SHOULD READ THIS

GOP Presidential candidate John McCain has gone on record saying "we have won the war in Iraq."

Apparently McCain's campaign staff don't allow him to see reports like the following of events in Iraq Tuesday.

Baghdad- Seven people were killed in a car bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul city
Tuesday, while in Baghdad twin bomb attacks left four dead.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/229293,11-killed-in-mosul-and-baghdad-violence--summary.html

In Mosul, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the eastern al-Quds neighbourhood, killing seven people and wounding seven.

Despite having a significant Kurdish population, the city does not constitute part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

In Baghdad twin attacks that targeted police patrols left four people dead and 14 injured, the Voice of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

One attack took place in al-Harithiya neighborhood, western Baghdad, when a bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol vehicle. Two were killed and six wounded.

Earlier, in central Baghdad, a policeman and a civilian were killed and eight civilians were injured in a blast near Kendi Hospital.

In Kirkuk, the city's deputy governor survived an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb went off near the Baghdad bus station targeting Kirkuk's deputy governor Rakan Said, an official told VOI.

Rifts over the status of the multi-ethnic city, with a population of Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, have resulted in lawmakers failing to pass legislation on provincial elections.

Kurds, claiming a majority of the city's population, currently hold more than half the seats in the Kirkuk council. Arabs and Turkmen oppose any integration of the city into autonomous Kurdistan.

WASHINGTON POST: UNCERTAINTY IN ANBAR PROVINCE HANDOVER

The media in the United States would leave people to believe it was the United States military which accomplished the turnover of Anbar Province to the Iraqi Security forces.

Nothing could be further from the TRUTH.

To begin with, the U.S. Army didn't kill or capture any insurgents. The Sunni Awakening banded together to rid Anbar Province of the insurgents.

The U.S. military just stood guard while the cleansing took place. You can be sure if the U.S. military were involved there would have been screaming headlines about how many Iraqi insurgents the U.S. military killed or captured, but that was not the case.

The signing ceremony was all a photo-op aimed at making it look like the U.S. military had accomplished some major military victory in Anbar Province.

The future of Anbar Province is shaky at best and it is far too early to tell if the insurgents have been run out of Anbar, or are they just in hiding planning their next attack.

Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

Uncertainty After Anbar Handover
Fate of U.S.-Backed Sunni Fighters Precarious as Government Targets Force's Leaders

By Amit R. PaleyWashington Post Foreign ServiceTuesday, September 2, 2008; A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090100441.html

BAGHDAD, Sept. 1 -- The U.S. military on Monday handed the Iraqi government control of security in Anbar province, the former Sunni insurgency stronghold that is now one of the safest areas in the country.

President Bush and military officials hailed the transfer as a sign of the growing strength of the Iraqi security forces. The United States plans to draw down the 26,000 American troops in Anbar so it can deploy more to Afghanistan, where violence is cresting as security improves in Iraq.

But as Iraqis celebrated the milestone, uncertainty lingered about the future of a linchpin in the effort to secure Anbar and the rest of Iraq: the Awakening movement, a 100,000-person group of former Sunni insurgents who now cooperate with U.S. troops.

The Shiite-led government has recently stepped up a campaign to arrest leaders of the Awakening and dismantle parts of the program, whose members receive $300 a month from the U.S. military. Many fighters have abandoned their posts and fled their homes to avoid detention, stoking fears that some will rejoin the insurgency.

Aides to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki contend that many Awakening members are al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters in disguise. Shiite leaders are also suspicious of armed Sunnis outside their control patrolling the streets. But under heavy U.S. pressure, Maliki has agreed to move at least a fifth into the security forces and train the rest for civilian jobs.

Click here to read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090100441.html

BREAKING VIDEO: DEMOCRACY NOW'S AMY GOODMAN ARRESTED AT RNC CONVENTION

Amy Goodman, who is one of the most brilliant commentators on politics and a founder of Democracy Now has been arrested outside of the Republican Convention.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/oYjyvkR0bGQ&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

VIDEO: ALASKA CBS OUTLET REPORTS ON PALIN'S "TROOPERGATE" SCANDAL

Sarah Palin, John McCain's pick as his veep candidate, has hired a private attorney to help in her defense about how she fired the Public Commissioner in Alaska when he wouldn't fire her brother-in-law who is an Alaskan State Trooper.

This is a scandal that is not going to go away and will cause the McCain campaign super headaches.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/6UojMnCgqVA&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

BRAND NEW VIDEO: OBAMA/BIDEN AND McCAIN ON WAR WITH IRAN

This video is from my friends at The Real News Network and includes interviews with THREE people who have extensive backgrounds in foreign policy and how they view the threats John McCain has made about going to war with IRAN

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2179

Remember this: If McCain and Palin win we will be going to war with IRAN and that means there will have to be a military draft.

THE TRUE STORY ON HOW PALIN VOTED ON "THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE"

BRIDGE TO SOMEWHERE.... The good news is, the McCain campaign is now starting to tell the public about Sarah Palin's accomplishments in Alaska. The bad news is, the principal example of Palin's strength as a leader is a blatant falsehood.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

On a couple of the Sunday morning shows, John McCain and his chief surrogates touted Palin's opposition to the now-infamous "bridge to nowhere," a $398 million bridge to connect the town of Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents.

To McCain and his supporters, Palin's firm stand against the congressional earmark is compelling evidence of her courage and conviction.

But what McCain and his cohorts are claiming is simply untrue. Palin supported the funding for the project, and kept the federal funds after the bridge deal fell through. Indeed, she ran for governor on a "build-the-bridge platform," and ended up directing federal funds to other wasteful pork projects, for fear of having to return unused tax dollars funds to the federal government.

This isn't an example the McCain campaign should be bragging about; it's an example the campaign should find embarrassing.

It does, however, lead to another question. McCain and other Republicans are boasting that Palin opposed the bridge. They're wrong. So, is the McCain campaign a) completely ignorant about Palin's actual record on this key issue; or b) simply trying to con the public?

Under the circumstances, it may be either. Making matters worse, I suppose it could be both.
If the single best example of Palin's leadership in office is bogus, what, pray tell, is the McCain campaign's Plan B?

HOW THE VA ABANDONS OUR VETS

The Veterans Administration is supposed to help wounded veterans not make them prove their wounds are combat related.

By Joshua Kors
This article appeared in the September 15, 2008 edition of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/kors/print

Wounded soldiers returning from Iraq are increasingly being wrongly diagnosed by the military, which prevents them from collecting benefits. What Jimenez didn't realize is that before he could receive benefits for his wounds, he'd have to prove that those wounds came from war. Three and a half years later, the sergeant is still making his case. The Department of Veterans Affairs isn't convinced. And it won't give him his benefits until it is.

The VA requires all veterans to prove their wounds are "service-connected" before it writes them a check. Jimenez thought that hurdle was merely a formality. The Army sergeant had been struck by two roadside bombs. The first sliced into his arms; six months later, a second bomb sprayed scrap metal into his face, knocking him unconscious and leaving him brain damaged. He began having seizures and suffering from memory loss. The blast left a persistent ringing in his right ear. The stress sparked nightmares, flashbacks and acid-reflux disease.
"I'm a different person now," Jimenez says glumly. "I come home; I lock myself in my room. I don't really talk to anyone. I used to be fun." Now, he says, he can't even have a bowl of cereal. It gives him heartburn for days. "That second bomb, it killed me--it just left my body." Sick, suicidal, the sergeant sought help from the VA.

The VA's diagnosis: too much caffeine. "They said I was drinking too much Red Bull. That's what was causing my problems."

Jimenez got mad. At that point, he did something few veterans even consider: he sued the VA.

The sergeant is a member of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), one of the most prominent veterans' groups in the country. In July 2007, executive director Paul Sullivan filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Jimenez and the thousands of veterans in his organization who were wounded in Iraq and, he says, were rebuffed by the VA when they sought disability and medical benefits.

"The VA needs more than a few minor changes at the margins. It needs a massive overhaul," says Sullivan. His organization's lawsuit asked Judge Samuel Conti to do exactly that: radically restructure the VA and the way it processes veterans' claims. The VA moved immediately to get the case dismissed, asserting that Sullivan's organization didn't represent the nation's wounded vets and had no standing to demand an overhaul of a $94 billion government organization.
Judge Conti disagreed.

The 86-year-old World War II veteran scheduled the trial for the end of April, and he demanded VA's top officials appear and take the stand. Over seven days VCS's lawyers would press them to explain internal e-mails and studies, statistics and videos, all suggesting that high-ranking officials purposely deceived Congress and the public, twisted data to cloak the VA's poor care of the ill and injured, and fired a prominent doctor who decided to expose the problems.

Click here to read full story: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/kors/print

CNN REPORTS: IRAQ SIGNS $3 BILLION OIL DEAL WITH CHINA

The United States has lost 4,133 troops in the Iraq War and another 34,000 wounded, and China has not lost a single soldier in the Iraq war yet China is the recipient of a $3 BILLION oil deal with Iraq.

Iraq signs $3 billion oil deal with Chinese national oil company

Deal is first major contract with foreign company since fall of Saddam Hussein
China National Petroleum Corporation to develop oil field in southern Wasit province
Oil field expected to produce 125,000 barrels a day within three years

http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/30/iraq.china.oil.deal/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.

Iraq's oil fields currently produce about 2.5 million barrels a day.

It was the first time in more than 35 years that Iraq has allowed foreign oil companies to do business inside its borders.

The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said.

Iraq's Cabinet must still approve the contract, but Jihad said that would happen soon and work could start within a few months.

The Chinese company will provide technical advisers, oil workers and equipment to develop al-Ahdab oil field, providing fuel for al-Zubaidiya power plant in Wasit, southeast of Baghdad, bordering Iran, Jihad said.

Once development begins, the field is expected to start producing a preliminary amount of 25,000 barrels of oil a day and an estimated constant daily amount of 125,000 barrels after three years, he said.

Iraq currently produces about 2.5 million barrels a day, 2 million of which are exported daily, Jihad said. That is close to its status before the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam in 2003, but below its levels prior to the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Click here to read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/30/iraq.china.oil.deal/index.html

VIDEO: JOHN McCAIN HAS ALZHEIMERS?

There are just too many indications that John McCain may be in the early stages of Alzheimers and they are all shown here in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/v/NZu7kioXqyY&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

FANTASTIC VIDEO: THE REAL THREAT OUR TROOPS FACE IN IRAQ--A FILM BY CASEY J. PORTER

The Iraqi insurgents keep coming up with new ways to kill Americans in Iraq. The lob bomb is one of the newest devices used by insurgents. This film by Casey J. Porter, "Area of Operations," gives viewers an inside look at what it is like on a daily basis in Iraq and how our troops view the Iraq war.

John McCain says we have won the Iraq war. Nothing could be further from the truth.

http://www.youtube.com/v/UCWnBlozjmM&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

VIDEO: THE IRAQ WAR: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

The United States still has 160,000 troops in Iraq and not a day goes by there isn't a firefight somewhere in Iraq. The media doesn't cover it anymore and there are some people who say they are sick of the Iraq war. Who isn't?

But now is NOT the time to forget our brave young warriors in Iraq and this video shows why.

http://www.youtube.com/v/JGjf5QH4sIU&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video.

VIDEO U.S. MARINE FOOT PATROL AMBUSHED BY IRAQI INSURGENTS

This video is raw and graphic and shows what it is like when a U.S. Marine foot patrol is ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.

http://www.youtube.com/v/v7f1-cDSZWk&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

IRAQ IS A TOTAL MESS AND NOBODY CARES

The Iraq War has been a horrible failure and the proof is in what happened in Iraq today.

Friday, August 29, 2008

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

News of the Day for Friday, August 29, 2008
Shi'ite people march during an anti-U.S. military rally after attending Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City August 29, 2008. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ) Note: Al Sadr announced yesterday that he is extending the cease fire, but his movement continues to oppose the occupation by peaceful means. -- CReported Security IncidentsAs is typical of Fridays, there was comparatively little political violence reported today. I do want to note that the deaths of U.S. soldiers on Wednesday and Thursday, which Whisker noted yesterday, have gone largely unreported in U.S. corporate media, as did the other substantial violence which occurred yesterday.

BaghdadRoadside bomb explodes in Yarmouk. No casualties reported.Tal AfarPolice foil an attempted suicide attack on a mosque, kill the attacker.

Tikrit"Coalition" (probably meaning U.S.) troops kill a "wanted man" in an operation targeting an "al Qaeda" leader. Implication seems to be that the "wanted man" was not the target of the operation.Other News of the Day

Contrary to earlier reports, it appears a deal on the continued presence of U.S. forces is not imminent after all. The Bush administration is balking over the Iraqis' demand for withdrawal by 2011. VoI report:
Most of the items in the long-term security agreement with Washington are still pending negotiations and not settled yet, an Iraqi legislator said on Friday, ruling out the parliament would vote over the deal."Differences revolve around a schedule of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as well as their powers and the description of these troops," Abdelkareem al-Samarraie, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Security & Defense Committee, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). A declaration of principles had been signed by U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December 2007. The declaration was planned to be ratified on July 31, 2008, to be effective as of January 1, 2009.The agreement should govern the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq after the year 2008. This presence is currently depending on a mandate by the UN, renewed annually upon the request of the Iraqi government. The deal should not be effective before a 275-member Iraqi parliament approves it. Samarraie, who belongs to the (Sunni) Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the third largest in parliament with 38 out of a total 275 seats, pointed out that the Iraqi political leaders hope the year 2011 would be a final date for the end of foreign presence in Iraq."Although the Iraqi delegation has insisted on that date, the Americans have some reservations over it," he added.

U.S. forces arrest a senior member of the "de-Baathification Committee chaired by their old friend Ahmad Chalabi. Chalabi defends him. Reuters report:
U.S. forces arrested the deputy head of a committee that purged Iraq's government of members of Saddam Hussein's party, an ally said, but the U.S. military said he was a wanted militia leader behind a deadly Baghdad bombing. U.S. troops detained Ali al-Lami, general manager of a committee established in 2003 and 2004 by then U.S. governor Paul Bremer to remove members of Saddam's Baath party from the government, on Wednesday, the committee's head said on Thursday.A U.S. military statement said its troops seized a man at the airport suspected of planning a bomb attack in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum in June that killed 10 people, including two U.S soldiers and two U.S. civilian contractors. "He was captured at the airport. He had just returned from Lebanon with his family," Ahmed al-Chelabi, director of the deBaathification Committee, said in a statement. "We strongly condemn this operation against one of the highest officials of the ... committee, who had done good work."The U.S. military said the man they picked up at the airport, whom they could not name, was a senior "special groups criminal", jargon for Shi'ite militia cells it says are backed by Iran. Iran denies backing Iraqi militants."Coalition forces captured a man suspected of working within the highest echelons of the special groups criminals," spokesman for the U.S. military, Major John Hall, said.

AP's Robert Reid channels the U.S. spin that al-Lami was working for Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Reading between the lines, however, it seems more accurate to portray this as a further attempt to walk back the pro-Shiite tilt of the first years of the occupation. The reaction to the arrest splits along sectarian lines. -- C Excerpt:

BAGHDAD — A senior official in Nouri al-Maliki's government was in custody Thursday suspected of ties to Iranian-backed Shiite militias and plotting a June bombing that killed 10 people, including four Americans, Iraqi authorities said.The arrest of Ali al-Lami — taken Wednesday as he left a plane arriving from Lebanon — reinforced suspicions about Tehran's influence within the Shiite-led Iraqi government and could open wider probes into Shiite networks, including possible links to Lebanon's Hezbollah.Al-Lami heads a commission responsible for keeping Saddam Hussein loyalists out of government posts and has been a target of criticism from Sunni leaders who claim the government wants to limit the overall Sunni voice in political and security issues.He was arrested by U.S. and Iraqi troops at Baghdad's airport as he returned with his family from medical treatment in Beirut, said a member of his committee, Qaiser Watout.U.S. and Iraqi troops were waiting for al-Lami as the plane's doors opened, Watout said."We condemn this act," Watout said. "Al-Lami was a moderate official and we are surprised by his arrest."U.S. military officials would not confirm the arrest of al-Lami, who has been involved in government affairs since shortly after Saddam's fall in 2003.But the U.S. command said a "suspected senior" leader of Iranian-backed "Special Groups" militias was detained at the airport for allegedly planning the June 24 bombing of a municipal building in the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City. Two American soldiers and two State Department employees died in the blast along with six Iraqis.

ARMY'S SUICIDE RATE HITS NEW HIGH--DENVER POST

The Army's suicide rate is at a high, and kin say that multiple deployments are to blame. Some troops with mental illnesses are cleared to serve in Iraq.

Read full story here:

By David Olinger and Erin Emery The Denver Post

MUST SEE VIDEO: DEMOCRATIC DELEGATE DEBRA DUPED BY McCAIN CAMPAIGN IN TV AD

The young girl, Debra Bartoshevich, in this McCain TV ad is a Democrat who was a Wisconsin Hillary Clinton delegate and now claims she is going to vote for John McCain for President.

A reporter asked her if she knew McCain was ANTI-ABORTION and she said she had been told McCain was PRO-CHOICE.

Ooops! Too late now, Debra. You are all over TV saying you are a Democrat who is going to vote for McCain.

Watch McCain ad featuring Debra here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/QrcPDyZK2S8&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

WHAT McCAIN VICTORY COULD MEAN: NO MONEY FOR HEALTH CARE AND END OF VOLUNTEER ARMY

In judging the shape of a future John McCain presidency, there are already plenty of dots that are easy to connect. They reveal an image of a war-like Empire so full of hubris that it could take the world into a cascade of crises, while extinguishing what is left of the noble American Republic.

By Robert Parry, Consortium NewsPosted on August 28, 2008, Printed on August 28, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/96687/

McCain has made clear he would continue and even escalate George W. Bush's open-ended global war on Islamic radicals. McCain buys into the neoconservative vision of expending U.S. treasure and troops to kill as many Muslim militants as possible.

McCain's tough talk -- for instance, his joking about "bomb, bomb Iran" and his vow to pursue Osama bin Laden "to the gates of hell" -- is indistinguishable from Bush's "bring 'em on," "smoke 'em out," "dead or alive" rhetoric.

Beyond the words, McCain's global war strategy is as hawkish, if not more so, than Bush's. In late 2001 and early 2002, McCain took the lead in pushing the neocon plan of a rapid pivot from the invasion of Afghanistan toward the prospective invasion of Iraq.

Even before the Taliban had been thoroughly defeated -- and as the Bush administration was failing to chase bin Laden to the gates of Tora Bora or to the gates of northwest Pakistan -- McCain was advocating a diversion of U.S. intelligence and military assets toward Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with 9/11.

That premature pivot from Afghanistan to Iraq may go down as one of the worst national security blunders in the history of the United States. It has bogged the U.S. military down in two indefinite wars while fueling anti-Americanism around the world and especially among the billion-plus Muslims.

Yet, McCain and his neocon allies have never acknowledged this serious error of judgment, nor has the mainstream U.S. news media demanded that McCain accept responsibility for this catastrophic mistake.

McCain instead gets away with boasting about the supposed success of the recent U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq. (Meanwhile, Big Media stars -- many of whom backed the Iraq invasion in 2003 -- hammer Barack Obama for refusing to accept the conventional wisdom about the "successful surge," as Obama tries to offer a more nuanced analysis.)
So, as the U.S. press corps again gives cover to the Iraq War, the larger failure of U.S. policy goes substantially unaddressed.

Read full article here: http://www.alternet.org/story/96687/

VIOLENCE RIPS THROUGH IRAQ

While the focus of attention in the United States is on Democratic Convention, there has been an uptick in violence all across Iraq.

Here is just a sampling of what has been taking place in Iraq that has not been covered by the mainstream media in the United States.

Kirkuk market blast kills, wounds 8

Kirkuk - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 28 /08 /2008 Time 12:22:47


KIRKUK, Aug. 28 (VOI) – Eight civilians were killed or wounded in an explosive charge attack that ripped through a popular market in southern Kirkuk city, a police source said on Thursday.

Baghdad:#1: A bomb in a parked car killed one person and wounded seven others in the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad, police said."Another explosive device exploded in al-Kamaliya neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring seven," he also said.

#2: Three suspected militants died and six more were detained in U.S. operations in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said.

#3: Anti-bomb squad defused five bombs in two separate regions of Baghdad, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. "Anti-bomb squad defused three explosive charges in Zaiyouna region near al-Rubaei-al-Malaab intersection in eastern Baghdad and found ammunitions and a mortar shell in the same area," the ministry said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#4: A roadside bomb was detonated near the national theatre in al-Karada region in central Baghdad, targeting a police vehicle patrol, injuring three civilian and three policemen and damaging a number of stores and two civilian cars," he added.

#5: "A car rigged with explosives went off in Baghdad al-Jadieda region in southeastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring seven more, in addition to damaging a number of nearby vehicles," the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#6: Around 8:00 a.m. an IED exploded targeting a US patrol on Mohammed al Qasim highway in east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

#7: Tuesday Police patrols found unknown body in southeastern Baghdad, a police source said on Wednesday."Policemen found the decayed corpse late Tuesday in al-Madaen district in southeastern Baghdad," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#8: A civilian was injured by an adhesive bomb that was attached to his BMW car. The incident took place in Mansour neighborhood in west Baghdad around 6:00 p.m.

#9: Iraqi police found two unidentified bodies in Sinak area in downtown Baghdad.Diyala Prv:#1: Two suicide bombers were among three terrorists killed Wednesday in a clash with US forces northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the US military said. One of the bombers was shot dead and the other detonated his explosives as the troops approached, killing himself but causing no other casualties, the military said.

Kut:#1: The body of a woman was found a street near al-Kut, a town southeast of the capital, the news agency Aswat al-Iraq reported.Iraqi police found the body of a woman in the town of Numaniya, 120 km (72 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:#1: Gunmen shot dead a civilian in a shop in the al-Nur area of eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles), north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: 14 civilians were injured by a suicide car bomb that detonated before reaching a checkpoint in Talafar city west Mosul.A suicide car bomber wounded 22 people in Tal Afar, some 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, according to Sabih Hussein, chief physician at the Tal Afar government hospital. A police source in nearby Mosul said that only two people had been wounded.

#3: Five civilians were injured by a suicide car bomb that targeted an American patrol in downtown Mosul city on Wednesday afternoon.

#4: A suicide car bomb detonated in eats Mosul on Wednesday afternoon. No news were reported about casualties.

At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 47 were wounded in the latest incidents.

Baghdad was the scene of a spate of bombings, while tribal warfare in Hay left a small number of casualties.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bombing yesterday in Baghdad. Three U.S. Marines and several Sunni leaders were killed in the blast. The security situation in Anbar has improved overall, but an increase in attacks has occurred recently.

As many as22 people were wounded during a suicide car bombing in Tal Afar. An earlier bombing wounded two people and may be the source of conflicting reports from the city.

In Baghdad, a car bomb killed one person and wounded seven others in Jadida. Six people were wounded during a bombing in Karrada. Five people were wounded by a blast in Kamaliya. A bomb planted on a car injured its owner. Two bodies were dumped downtown. A bomb targeting a U.S. patrol on the Qasim Highway failed to harm anyone. Also, five bombs were found and defused.

A tribal conflict left four dead and one wounded in Hay.

In Mosul, a civilian was shot dead in the al-Nur neighborhood. In Maliya, five Iraqis were wounded when a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol blasted them instead.

A woman's body was discovered in Numaniya.

Police in Madaen were alerted to a decomposed corpse

VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES BARRED FROM VETS HOMES

"Private nursing homes conduct registration drives," noted Paul Sullivan of the group Veterans for Common Sense, but "we are not aware of any efforts VA has taken to assist veterans with registering and voting."

"The goal of President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and VA Secretary James Peake is to run out the clock so that no voter assistance is provided to our hundreds of thousands of hospitalized and homeless veterans," Sullivan argued. "If President Bush and Karl Rove run out the clock, then our veterans and our democracy lose. Shame on Bush, Rove, and Peake for undermining the voting rights of our disabled veterans during a time of war."

Voter Registration Drives Barred from Vets Homes

Aaron Glantz, OneWorld USTue Aug 26, 1:56 PM ET
http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2008/08/military-draft-on-its-way-selective.html

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 26 (OneWorld) - As citizens across the United States gear up for a historic and highly competitive set of national, state, and local elections this November, a federal government policy is keeping voter registration groups away from thousands of elderly and disabled military veterans.

When Silicon Valley labor organizer Steve Preminger went over his precinct maps in 2004, he couldn't believe what he saw. Of the 400 veterans who lived at the nearby Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Menlo Park nursing home, only one had voted in the year 2000. So Preminger, who also heads a local chapter of the Democratic Party, gathered together a stack of voter registration cards, and he and a friend began walking the halls looking for veterans who were interested in registering to vote.

"We thought registering people to vote is as American as apple pie," he said. "Who better to reach out to than those who have sacrificed so much for this country?"

Almost immediately, VA officials threw him out. "We got summarily evicted by a supervisor who was re-enforced by security."

The VA has since explained that its decision to evict Preminger was part of a Bush Administration policy that bars outside groups from registering voters who live in VA nursing homes, hospitals, and transitional housing for homeless veterans.

In an e-mailed response to questions for this story, VA press secretary Alison Aikele said that "designating a VA hospital as a voter registration site" would make it harder for the government to care for wounded veterans. It "would be disruptive to the quality care we provide our veterans," she said.

Veterans groups have expressed outrage over the policy, which they say is disenfranchising as many as 400,000 veterans who often do not know they need to re-register to vote when they move into a VA facility and it becomes their official, state-sanctioned address. The VA has even barred local elections officials from carrying out voter registration drives.

In June, the VA barred Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal from entering its West Haven facility to help register voters.

Preminger has gone to court to get the policy overturned and has been joined in his complaint by elections officials in 22 states. "During visiting hours anyone can come into a VA facility and talk to veterans about the weather or sports," attorney Scott Rafferty said. "We should be able to come in and talk to these same Americans and ask them if they want to register to vote and who they want to vote for."

But the wheels of American justice can be slow, and with another presidential election just two months away, Preminger's case is still working its way through the courts.

Meanwhile, the VA has refused to soften its position. On May 5, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a new rule, VHA DIRECTIVE 2008-025, which states succinctly: "to avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted."

Veterans' advocates are now looking toward Congress to overrule the VA policy. They're hoping the House and Senate will speed through the "Veteran Voting Support Act" as soon as lawmakers return from major party political conventions in September. They say the bill, which would overturn the VA's policy and allow voter registration drives, must be passed immediately if veteran voters are to be reached -- and in many cases re-enfranchised -- ahead of November's election.

In the meantime, non-partisan veterans organizations wait for the chance to register their fellow veterans to vote.

45 DEAD, 79 WOUNDED IN WAVE OF IRAQ VIOLENCE

You would never know it by watching MSNBC, CNN or FOX NEWS but a wave of violence has swept across IRAQ.

The IRAQ WAR and the 160,000 young AMERICANS deployed to IRAQ are not even on the radar screens of MSNBC, CNN and FOX NEWS.

The media---which mirrors the attitude of the American public---couldn't care less about the 160,000 young AMERICANS "stranded" in IRAQ.

Comments by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

45 Dead, 79 Wounded in Wave of Violence

Bombing in Jalawla' Raises Tensions with Baghdad

Source: http://juancole.com/

Why Iraq still matters to the presidential campaign,according to Mark Brunswick of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Violence erupted throughout central, eastern and northern Iraq on Tuesday, leaving at least 45 dead and some 79 wounded. The major single attack was a suicide bombing that struck at a police recruiting center in the mostly Kurdish town of Jalaula' northeast of Baquba in troubled Diyala Province. The attack raised suspicions among Kurds because it comes in the wake of disputes between the Kurds of Diyala and the government of Nuri al-Maliki, who has sent Iraqi government troops into Diyala. When the troops entered Khanaqin, a potentially oil-rich city near the Iranian border that is largely Kurdish, there were tensions with the local population and with the Peshmerga Kurdish paramilitary.

On Tuesday, residents of Khanaqin staged a demonstration against the presence in their city of government troops. Jalawla' is near Khanaqin. Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that when Iraqi troops first went into the northern, Kurdish areas of Diyala, they gave the local Peshmerga 24 hours to get out of the region. The Diyala governing council resisted this ultimatum, creating tension with the central government. The Kurdistan Regional Government also disputed the decree, eliciting charges from Baghdad that the KRG was attempting to extend its authority into provinces not in its purview (Diyala is not part of the KRG). Al-Hayat says that the Peshmerga had just returned to Khanaqin and Jalawla' after the withdrawal of federal troops.Shawn Brimley and Colin Kahl argue against al-Maliki's crackdown on the Sunni Arab Awakening Councils.Kurdish journalists are in danger in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Al-Hayat reports a new poll that shows that half of KRG residents feel that they have little freedom of speech.

FOX NEWS CALLS "SURGE" A SUCCESS EVEN AS 34 PEOPLE KILLED IN IRAQ BY CAR BOMBS

FOX NEWS continues to carry the water for the Bush White House and the Pentagon and LIE to the American public about the success of "the surge."

But FOX NEWS isn't alone in praising the success of "the surge." RUSH LIMBAUGH, SEAN HANNITY AND MICHAEL SAVAGE, all right-wing "hate" radio talkshow hosts, also continue to LIE to their listeners about how well things are going in IRAQ.

Here is a story which points out what filthy liars FOX NEWS, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SEAN HANNITY AND MICHAEL SAVAGE are in their ongoing effort to mislead their audiences the the real truth about IRAQ.

BAGHDAD - Three blasts killed at least 34 Iraqis on Tuesday, most of them in a suicide car bombing that struck a group of police recruits, officials said. It was one of the highest daily casualty tolls in recent months.

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26403249/

Two of the bombs went off in Diyala province, which has been the site of much of the recent violence and a stronghold of Sunni insurgents.

In the provincial town of Jalula, an assailant drove a car toward a building where new police recruits had assembled, said Col. Ahmed Mahmoud Khalifa, the local police chief.

The car approached the building but was stopped by guards. The driver then detonated the explosives, the chief said. He said 25 people were killed and 40 wounded.

Local police have been forming an emergency response force in the region, with each tribal sheik allowed to send a certain number of recruits. Monday was the last day of recruitment, and applicants came to the police center on Tuesday to check whether they had been accepted, Khalifa said.

After the blast, security forces imposed a curfew on Jalula, about 80 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Children killed on way to shrineElsewhere in Diyala, a roadside bomb struck a van carrying a Sunni family near the town of Mandali along the Iranian border, said Col. Sarchal Abdul-Karim, a spokesman of Iraqi border guards in the area.

Five members of the family were killed, including two women and two children, the spokesman said. The family was on the way to a religious shrine, the colonel added.

Also Tuesday, a bomb planted in a parked car killed four people and wounded six, including three policemen, in the city of Tikrit north of Baghdad.

The explosion went off during morning rush hour in a central street used by local government officials to go to work, said a police official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

More here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26403249/