Iraqi security forces today violently wrested control of the sprawling compound of an exiled Iranian opposition movement, killing at least seven of its residents in the process. The raid was the latest assertion of total military independence by Iraqi forces from US control. Video of the event, with Iraqi soldiers delivering severe beatings to unarmed residents, adds evidence of brutal tactics within the new Iraqi Army. But it also may be the beginning of the end of the one the strangest sideshows of the entire Iraq war as the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flexes its muscles and seeks closer ties with Tehran. The raid came as Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who had long urged Iraq against a violent takeover of the camp, visited the country on Wednesday. Though the Iraqi government had repeatedly asked the Iranian exile group, the Mujahidin e Khalq (MKO, or People’s Mujahedin), to leave the country, US officials said the raid came as a surprise and the BBC quoted US Gen. Ray Odierno as saying the government had promised to deal with the MKO in a ‘humane fashion. (The BBC article also has video of the beginning of the raid.) […]
Call it a sign of desperate times: Legislators are considering selling the House and Senate buildings where they’ve conducted state business for more than 50 years. Dozens of other state properties also may be sold as the state government faces its worst financial crisis in a generation, if not ever. The plan isn’t to liquidate state assets, though. Instead, officials hope to sell the properties and then lease them back over several years before assuming ownership again. The complex financial transaction would allow government services to continue without interruption while giving the state a fast infusion of as much as $735 million, according to Capitol projections. For investors, the arrangement means long-term lease payments from a stable source. Once any deals are approved, money could begin flowing into state coffers in as little as 90 days. The plan has bipartisan backing, but that doesn’t make the prospect of paying rent for buildings once owned free and clear by taxpayers any easier to swallow. ‘We’ve mortgaged the legislative halls,’ said an exasperated state Rep. Steve Yarbrough, a Chandler Republican. ‘That just tells you how extraordinary the times are. ‘To me, it’s something we’re going […]
U.S. cities that for years lost residents to the suburbs are holding onto their populations with a mix of people trapped in homes they can’t sell and those who prefer urban digs over more distant McMansions, according to Census data released Wednesday. Growing cities are growing faster and shrinking cities are losing fewer people, reflecting a blend of choice and circumstance. Biggest Cities Get Bigger In Chicago, Matthew Sessa and his wife sold their townhouse and decided against buying a four-bedroom house in the suburbs. They bought a three-bedroom in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood instead, with a yard not much bigger than their garage. ‘What we ended up getting in the city was just as nice, and the neighborhood that we moved into also has a very good elementary and junior high,’ said Mr. Sessa, a commercial banker who is 37 years old and has a baby due any day. But Chicago is also becoming home to people who can’t sell their houses or find jobs elsewhere. Jhonathan Gomez, an organizer with the Latino Union of Chicago, a nonprofit that works with day laborers, said many immigrant workers have been moving back to the city […]
LOS ANGELES — The day a governor signs a budget bill into law usually marks the end of acrimony, threats and political dodge ball. But this is broke, embattled, politically crippled California, and so with the sweep of his pen, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened the door Tuesday for more fights. Seeking to close a final hole created by a last-minute rejection by lawmakers of two large revenue-producing measures, the governor made a slew of line-item cuts to programs for children and the poor to close a roughly $24 billion two-year gap. His trims to programs that legislators took pains to protect over these many weeks prompted instant screaming from lawmakers, as well as implications of lawsuits. The Democratic-controlled Legislature insisted that Mr. Schwarzenegger overstepped his authority to veto new appropriations by editing out existing funds and interfering with items written to avoid a veto. ‘I am asking legislative counsel for a definitive opinion on the legality of the governor’s actions, the Assembly leader, Karen Bass, said in a statement. ‘The cuts the governor made today will have catastrophic effects on children, domestic abuse victims and seniors. Legislators finalized the document last week after a series of […]
Washington, D.C.- But h- In recent days, on both radio and TV, CNN host Lou Dobbs has provided cover for conspiracy theorists who claim that President Obama lacks a valid birth certificate and is therefore ineligible to be president. Specifically, Dobbs has repeatedly said that Obama needs to ‘produce a birth certificate’ and cast doubt on the birth certificate posted online by FactCheck.org. Moreover, Dobbs has claimed that ‘reasonable people should be interested’ in the issue and that Obama has refused to put the questions to rest. Given Dobbs’ spotlighting of the birthers’ claims, Media Matters for America presents some of the leading figures within the birther community and the views they’ve espoused. The figures include Andy Martin, who has made anti-Semitic and racially charged comments; 9-11 ‘Truther’ Philip Berg; perennial candidate for public office Alan Keyes, who has reportedly accused Obama of taking the ‘slaveholder’s position’ on abortion; a pastor who has prayed for Obama’s death; and the discredited right-wing website WorldNetDaily (WND). Dobbs has hosted some of the birthers, while others have cited Dobbs’ efforts as evidence that the birther movement is growing. WND wrote in a July 16 article that it ‘has been reporting — […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
