Friday, September 12, 2008

Other Items

I have noticed and so did my colleagues that many Iraqi officials say while talking to media "I demand the government" as if thye are not from the government. Some ministers use this phrase also while they talk about their responsibilities.
Using this phrase by the officials tell one fact only. It tells us that those officials dont work for Iraq and its people. It is a big evidence that those officials had lost the sense of patriotism.

The above is from "September 12, 2008" (Inside Iraq) written by an Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers. Yesterday's snapshot noted the Thursday meet up between the puppet government in Baghdad and the "Awakening" Council members. Saif Rasheed and Tina Susman's "Iraq, U.S.-funded militia at loggerheads" (Los Angeles Times) covers the topic of the supposed impending melding of "Awakening" Council members and the Iraqi 'government':


But the government has made it clear it has little trust in many of the Sons of Iraq fighters, or in the numbers of them provided by the U.S. military. In Baghdad alone, the United States says, there are 54,000 Sons of Iraq, each receiving $300 a month. It puts the total nationwide at roughly 100,000.
The Iraqi government has said it suspects that the U.S. military number is far too high, and an order signed by Maliki this month requires Sons of Iraq to submit paperwork to Iraqi security forces in their areas of operation so their identities can be checked against U.S. records. Only then will they be paid.
"We want to protect the program from being infiltrated," explained Iraqi army Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar. The government has given Sons of Iraq fighters until only the end of September to handle the paperwork and report to their area security force stations.
The plan worries many Sons of Iraq leaders, who say Maliki's government already has begun a campaign of arrest and intimidation against them. U.S. officials, who embraced the program last year as a way to turn around the Sunni insurgency, now say the Iraqi government has the right to arrest fighters it suspects of crimes.


Sarah Palin is John McCain's running mate on the Republican ticket. I am noting the photo below from the McCain campaign's blog on their event in Virginia (Wednesday).



Joan e-mailed asking if we could note this People magazine story on Palin's son. It's Lorenzo Benet's "Sarah Palin Sees Her Son Off to Iraq" and Joan notes, "The son's name is Track. Track, not Trig. A fact that neither Amy Goodman or her 'expert' could get right last week. Trig isn't shipping off, he's an infant." Joan says see this by Ava and myself on how Goody and her 'expert' on Sarah Palin didn't know the basics on Palin (for Goody, that ignorance included not knowing how to pronounce Palin's last name).

Wally's mother asked that we note this from Team Nader (and advises Trina's going to as well in her weekend post):

My Mom's Cookie Recipe

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My Mom's Cookie Recipe .

I was sitting at my dinner table last night eating a two two two cookie.

It's my mother's recipe.

Simple.

Healthful.

Nutritious.

It's called a two two two cookie because it has two cups of oats, two cups of flour, two cups of . . you get the idea.

As I'm biting into my two two two cookie, I'm asking myself:

What was the number one issue in the Presidential horse race for the past couple of days?

Answer:

Lipstick.

And then I asked myself: Why are Presidential campaigns so cosmetic?

Why can't they be more substantive -- like my mother's cookies?

This got me to thinking about an idea that would help us raise money to push our substantive agenda onto the front burner of American politics.

If you donate to Nader/Gonazlez by midnight tonight an amount that has the number two in it, we'll e-mail to you Rose Nader's two two two recipe.

That simple.

So, you can give $2.

Or $12.

Or $20.

Or $22.

Or $200.

Anything up the to the maximum of $2,300.

But it has to have at least one two in it.

If it has a two in it, we'll e-mail you the recipe.

(Of course, your two two two donation will help us reach our current fundraising goal of $80,000 by the September 17 deadline. Your donation will help us fund our get out the vote drive over the last seven weeks of this campaign -- which translates into putting the substantive Nader/Gonzalez shift the power agenda front and center in this crucial election year.)

Thank you for your ongoing support and dedication.

Onward to November.

Ralph Nader

PS: Remember, if you give $100 or more, we will also send you In Pursuit of Justice, the 520-page book of essays by yours truly -- essays on corporate power, the Constitution, and transforming our country. If you donate $100 or more now, we will send you this historic collection -- and I’ll autograph it. (This book offer ends at 11:59 p.m. September 17, 2008.)

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NOW on PBS begins airing tonight on most PBS stations (and it will stream online) with topics that include:

Are tactical mistakes by Obama going to cost him the election? Maybe, says psychiatrist and Democratic political consultant Drew Westen. The author of "The Political Brain," talks to NOW's David Brancaccio about how appealing to voters' emotions reaps bigger electoral rewards than hammering home policy proposals. Westen is a Professor of Psychology at Emory University and the founder of Westen Strategies, LLC, a political and corporate consulting firm.

And I believe PBS' Washington Week (begins airing tonight, check local listings) features Gwyn being joined by ABC News's Martha Raddatz, Time's Karen Tumulty, the New York Times' Jackie Calmes and Slate's John Dickerson. (I believe because a friend at PBS is on the phone plugging it but the website has that show for September 5th -- I'm told that's a mistake at the website and these are the guests for this weekend's show.)

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.



mcclatchy newspapers
the los angeles times
 tina susman
saif rasheed
 now on pbs
 pbs
 washington week