Sign of the Times

post from American Street on 19 March 2008 12:39:00 PM. © American Street

How’s this for an economic indicator?Look around where you live and count the number of blank billboards. And open commercial space.Yeah, this Bush economy rocks.

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http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2008/03/19/sign-of-the-times/

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Ron Paul Supporters Wont Vote For McCain

post from Firedoglake on 19 March 2008 12:32:29 PM. © Firedoglake

John McCain's fundraising woes aren't likely to be solved with the help of Ron Paul supporters, who donated over $32 million for Paul's campaign. McCain's attempts to neutralize Paul by backing an insurgent primary opponent against him failed, and Paul[...]

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http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/19/ron-paul-supporters-wont-vote-for-mccain/

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Five Years Later

post from OutrageNation on 19 March 2008 12:30:00 PM. © OutrageNation

The war goes on and on. 5 years, 4,000 dead Americans, tens of thousands of dead Iraqis, $500 billion dollars. What did it get us? More war, of course.

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http://www.outrageradio.com/index.php?/weblog/entry/five_years_later/

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Supreme Court Reverses Conviction Based on
Prosecutor's Exclusion of Blacks from Jury

post from TalkLeft on 19 March 2008 12:28:00 PM. © TalkLeft

At a time when the country's struggle to overcome racial divisions is deservedly making front page news, the Supreme Court overturned a Louisiana conviction after concluding that a state prosecutor deliberately excluded a black student from serving on the defendant's jury. The opinion reinforces an earlier decision that called for stronger judicial scrutiny of the bogus explanations that prosecutors often give for their decisions to remove minority group members from criminal juries.

The decision (pdf) was 7-2, with Justices Scalia and Thomas joining in an unsurprising dissent. More surprising is that Justice Alito did not join them. In fact, he wrote the majority opinion.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/254352298/370

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Hillary Clinton Heads To Michigan

post from MyDD on 19 March 2008 12:26:51 PM. © MyDD

As of last night, the prospects of a Michigan revote appeared remote. In Lansing, lawmakers looked at a proposal by Michigan party leaders for a privately financed revote on June 3 that the state would run. A new election requires a two-thirds vote of[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mydd/~3/254349432/607

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Five Years. . . and Counting -- Editorial
Cartoon by Andrew Wahl

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 19 March 2008 12:24:41 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

Bookmark/Search this post with: buzzflash | delicious | digg digg | technorati Technorati Tags: Andrew Wahl Iraq five-year anniversary George W. Bush

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http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/wahl/092

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Supporting The Troops

post from Eschaton on 19 March 2008 12:23:00 PM. © Eschaton

Not really the best way to do it.

Earlier this morning, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) sent Defense Secretary Robert Gates a letter requesting documents about the military?s management of contracts for maintenance of electrical systems in U.S. military facilities in Iraq.

The reason: Because he found out that 12 Army and Marine servicemen have died as a result of electrocution since 2003.

The latest casualty: Staff Sergeant Ryan D. Maseth (pictured), a Special Forces soldier from Pennsylvania, who was electrocuted while taking a shower in his living quarters in Radwaniyeh Palace Complex in Baghdad on January 2.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/254376391/2008_03_16_archive.html

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After Five Years In Iraq, Richard Perle Claims
‘We Can’t Turn This Thing Around Overnight’

post from Think Progress on 19 March 2008 12:21:00 PM. © Think Progress

Earlier this week, Iraq war architect Richard Perle defended the 2003 invasion, writing in the New York Times that “the right decision was made.” “We blundered into an ill-conceived occupation that would facilitate a deadly insurgency,” argues Perle, because we didn’t immediately hand power to Iraqi exiles like Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi.

Appearing on the radio show of Fox News’s John Gibson on Monday night, Perle chastised Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) assertion that “we cannot win” the civil war in Iraq. “We may not win, but to say we can’t win is clearly wrong,” argued Perle.

Perle then claimed that questioning the prospects for success in Iraq at this point was foolish because “after thirty years of a brutal dictatorship,” America can’t expect Iraq to be turned around “overnight”:

There are lots of problems and after thirty years of a brutal dictatorship, we can’t turn this thing around overnight. But to say we cannot win.

Listen here:

Considering that we are about to enter the sixth year of war, Perle appears to have an odd sense of what constitutes “overnight.” In fact, by Perle’s own count, America has now been an occupying power in Iraq for a 1/6 of the time that Saddam Hussein ruled.

And though he is now “running away” from any culpability for the war’s failure, Perle was amongst the chorus of voices arguing that political success in Iraq would be relatively easy:

And a year from now, I?ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they?ve been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis to express that sense of liberation.

Ironically, Perle made that comment roughly four months after L. Paul Bremer assumed control of Iraq, which he now argues is when “the trouble began.”

Transcript:

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http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/19/after-five-years-in-iraq-richard-perle-claims
-we-cant-turn-this-thing-around-overnight/

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Midweek Diary Rescue

Another batch of quality diary content for the discerning blog reader: Intrepid Liberal Journal tells the story of a man who learned to lead, listen and follow in An Interview With Lifetime Activist and Social Entrepreneur Charles Halpern. Desmoinesdem[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mydd/~3/254349433/418

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