Monday, September 30, 2013

Over 1,200 violent deaths in Iraq this month

Yesterday, violence broke out all across Iraq -- even bombing in the KRG.  Today, Baghdad is the chief focal point.  Kareem Raheem (Reuters) reports 14 car bombs have resulted in "at least 54" deaths in the capital.  Fu Peng (Xinhua) reminds, "The attacks came a day after a wave of insurgent attacks killed 55 people and wounded some 135 others across Iraq."   Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) offers this context, "More than 5,000 civiilans have died and 12,000 have been wounded in terrorist attacks and other violence in Iraq in 2013, the United Nations Mission in Iraq reported this month. The region around Baghdad has been the hardest-hit, the agency said."


While the vast majority of deaths are taking place in Baghdad today, the last day of the month, violence also took place across Iraq.  National Iraqi News Agency reports a Rakatil-Haj village bombing claimed 1 life and left five more people injured, a Diyala Province sticky bombing claimed the life of Mehdi al-Sumaidaie (Assistan Director of the Eductation Directorate for the province),  a Mosul roadside bombing claimed 3 lives and left three more people injured,  a Zawbaa roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Sahwa and left three more injured, a Tikrit roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soldiers and left three more injured, a Baquba sticky bombing injured one police officer,  and, dropping back to late last night, a Baquba roadside bombing left three Iraqi soldiers injured.   That's 8 deaths and 18 injured outside of Baghdad.  Adding that to the 54 deaths reported in Bahgdad leaves us with at least 62 deaths so far today from violence.

Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count registers 1151 violent deaths for the month thus far.  Today is the last day of the month so the IBC total for September (issued tomorrow) will be over 1,200 deaths. 

Now, for something different.  Over the years, various community members will disagree with me over something.  We'll discuss it in e-mails, see each other's point, but still disagree and that's life.  We're never all going to be on the same page.  But when that happens with a community member -- as opposed to a drive-by or visitor e-mailing the public account -- I'll say at the end of the exchange, "You now have a marker.  When you want something or someone covered or called out, let me know and let me know you're calling in your marker and I'll cover it."

Zach called in his marker today.  He wants Bob Somerby's "gross stupidity" called out.

Bob Somerby has many issues -- including sexism.  He's also one of the leading critics online (leading in terms of skill).  Today's stupidity doesn't stem from sexism.  Maybe it was just a bad day for him or maybe he was blinded with hatred.

The writing in question is "Somehow, Salon saw Cruz getting schooled!" 

For a media critic, this is one of the biggest problems in his piece:


For the record, who wrote that piece at Salon? Natasha Lennard, who is described this way in her official ID line:
“Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing.”
Rabble-rousing! That’s good solid fun! It’s fun when we all clown around!


I don't know, maybe because Lennard's a woman, Somerby just thought that said it all.  Reality: Lennard's been published by the New York Times.  They will not publish her anymore.  They ended that relationship and did so for a reason.  If you're going to critique the accuracy of a Lennard report and mention Lennard's 'bio,' you really need to be aware of what she's accused of having done at the New York Times.  (Lennard denies any improper bias in her work.)


This section just contains outright stupidity:

What’s wrong with the GOP approach to the impending shutdown? In tedious eighth grade civics textbooks, you’ll find it in the chapter called, “How a bill becomes law.”
How does a bill become a law? First, it has to pass both houses of Congress. After that, the president has to sign it!
The GOP could take that approach to the repeal of Obamacare. Unfortunately, they lost the Senate and the White House in the last election—again.
Unable to pass the bills they prefer due to their electoral defeats, they have to proceed in the current manner—threatening major disasters to get their objectives met.
As every eighth grader knows, that isn’t the way a bill becomes law. This current mess isn’t a question of the merits of Obamacare. It’s a question of the basic way the American system works.
Gregory skipped past this rather obvious framework. Instead, he got all tangled up in discussions about the merits of Obamacare.
There will never be any way to resolve such disputes. The basic question here is much simpler: If Cruz wants to repeal or defund the health care law, why doesn’t he do so in the normal American way? In the way that gets explained to eighth graders every year?



They lost the Senate and the White House, Somerby says sticking his tongue out.

Guess what, that doesn't mean a damn thing.  They could have lost the House as well and it wouldn't mean a damn thing.  If someone in Congress believes ObamaCare is wrong, they need to fight against it.  It remains a deeply unpopular program.  Even after all these years of the White House, Dems in Congress and the media selling it.  But even if it was 100% loved by the public, if a member of Congress feels it's wrong, they need to fight against it.  That includes using any and all tools of the Congress.

Somerby's especially stupid here because we're talking about funding.  Maybe he just made it through eighth grade and cheated the rest of the way?  That could explain why he's unaware of who got handed the purse.  The House is in charge.

I'm a woman so naturally Bob Somerby would blow off my opinion (he really is a sexist).  So let's go the House website for the history Somerby never learned:

Congress—and in particular, the House of Representatives—is invested with the “power of the purse,” the ability to tax and spend public money for the national government. Massachusetts’ Elbridge Gerry said at the Federal Constitutional Convention that the House “was more immediately the representatives of the people, and it was a maxim that the people ought to hold the purse-strings.”


The Republican Party controls the House.  It is their job, they are required, to hold that power and to exercise it diligently.  If that means they have to oppose ObamaCare in any manner, that's what it means.


In the section we quoted, he repeatedly cites 8th grade and "How a bill becomes a law" and asking how it happens -- over and over.

What he never does is explain what you do after a law is passed that you oppose.

He appears to imply that you pass a law against it.

He never says that. 

But, guess what, there is life and intelligence beyond eighth grade.

And Congress members have many powers and they can use any of them they want.

Whether or not Bob Somerby approves of them or even knows of these powers.

He may come off so stupid today because he's bought into hysteria.

A government shut down!  Oh, how scary! 


If it happens, life will go on.  It is not the end of the world.  (Iraq knows about real problems -- see today's violence.  Sequestration is a created moment, not a doomsday device.)   I don't care for Barack but I don't believe he's trying to end the world.  If sequestration could end the world, he never would have proposed it.

We are at this moment because Barack wanted sequestration.

He loaded the gun and now the trigger may be pulled.

Many are in a tizzy and panic.

They don't need to be.  Life will go on.  It is not the end of the world -- not even the end of the world as we know it.

When frenzies like this take place, the smartest thing you can do is turn off your TV.  They need to fill time and do so cheaply.  They don't report because reporting costs money.  So you instead get the yackers and to boost the ratings this must turn into 'the crisis of our lifetime.' 

It's all nonsense.

The real suffering will take place in the 2014 elections as various incumbents will be forced to defend whatever positions they took.


As Rob Lowe tells Demi Moore in St. Elmo's Fire, "You know, this smells to me like a little bit of self-created drama."



Kat's "Kat's Korner: Jack Johnson learns what really makes a man sexy"  went up yesterday as did Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Destroying The Privacy Wall."


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