How Democracy Works In Iraq.

Health Care Is The Top Issue Now, Polls Show.

Source: Editor & Publisher

About damn time the top issue is something other than more corruption in Washington or more deaths in Iraq.

A new Gallup Poll released Tuesday reveals that the issue cited by most Americans as the one they worry about the most is "the availability and affordability of healthcare."

A total of 68% said they worried about this a "great deal." Coming in second is the social security system at 51%. Following close behind that were "availability and affordability of energy," drug use, crime and violence--and only then "the possibility of terrorist attacks in the U.S." (at 45%).

in a sign of the times, Americans grew more worried in the past year, Gallup said, in 11 of the 12 top issues. Health care, energy and immigration had grown the most in concern since 2005. Democrats were more worried pretty much across the board.

"The two most partisan issues are the economy and illegal immigration," Gallup reported. "The economy is relatively much more important to Democrats than to Republicans, while illegal immigration is relatively much more important to Republicans than Democrats." Many more Democrats are also concerned about health care. This suggests how each party will attempt to mobilize its base in 2006 campaigns.

Yeah, that figures because SCREW ALL OF THE IMPORTANT ISSUES 'CAUSE HEAVEN FORBID IF MORE OF THEM DAMN MEXICANS COME INTO THIS COUNTRY!!!*

Dearest morons, how did your ancestors get to this country? Got an answer? And I'm willing to bet that some of them skipped registering at Ellis Island...am I right?

*This is not the view of this article's author; it's merely a half-assed parody of the Republican/Democrat thought process when dealing with the hated immigration issue.

Tags: [Gallup Poll], [immigration], [health care], [Democrats], [Republicans], [health care is the new top issue with Americans]

New Pope Will Pay China A Visit?

Source: AP via Breitbart.com

Watch out, China...here comes the Hitler Youth Pope!

Pope Benedict XVI told a delegation from Hong Kong he will visit China in what would be an extraordinary papal visit to the communist nation, but he said the trip's timing depends on "God's wish," media reports said Tuesday.

One of the Vatican's goals is to restart official relations with China, which forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Holy See in 1951 after the officially atheist Communists took power. People can worship only in government-controlled churches.

Good luck with that. Want to know why?

But millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome. They say they are frequently harassed, fined and sometimes sent to labor camps by authorities.

Well, the man has testicular fortitude...I'll give him that.

Pope John Paul II, the most-traveled pontiff in history, was unable to visit China during his 26-year papacy. Pope Paul VI made a three-hour stopover in Hong Kong in 1970 when it was a British colony.

No pope has ever visited mainland China.

That's counting on whether this conversation actually took place.

The delegation included Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, who told the pope Monday, "Please come to China to bring us love and democracy," Lai's Apple Daily newspaper reported in a front-page story.

The pope responded, "I will come," the newspaper reported.

But he said the timing depends on "God's wish," the Ming Pao Daily reported, quoting Hong Kong Catholic Diocese vicar the Rev. Dominic Chan.

A Vatican official said Tuesday it is a well-known fact that the pope wishes to travel to China, but he could not confirm Benedict's conversation with Lai. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Tags: [Pope Benedict XVI], [China], [Pope to visit China?]

What Benefits Really Mean.

Google Joins The Lobbying Herd.

Source: NY Times

I would imagine this has something to do with the White House's inquiries into porn searches and such. It's disappointing that Google would go this route, but it's also somewhat smart. Get a few key Republicans on your side, and they make things "go away".

Google has hired politically connected lobbying firms and consultants with ties to Republican leaders like the party chairman, Ken Mehlman; Speaker J. Dennis Hastert; and Senator John McCain; and advisers say the company may set up a fund-raising arm for political donations to candidates. And in a town where Republicans hold the levers of power, Google has begun stockpiling pieces of the party's machine.

In doing so, Google provides another example of how Internet companies, no matter how unconventional their roots or nonconformist their corporate cultures, increasingly find themselves wrestling with the same forces in Washington that more traditional industries have long faced. Google's executives consider the moves necessary as they achieve a prominence that allows them to elbow their own interests onto the political stage.

Even as they emphasize policy over politics to raise their profile, Google executives and advisers are also fully aware that they are embracing the lobbying world at a time when it has been rocked by the Jack Abramoff scandal of influence peddling. Some advisers say the company may wait until after Congress decides whether or how to overhaul lobbying laws before it wades more deeply into fund-raising and politics.

With its stock price closing on Monday near $370 a share and its vaulting onto the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index this week, the company also cannot afford to be caught flat-footed by regulatory agencies or its competitors.

Google's political awakening was nowhere more evident than on Capitol Hill last month, when it, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Yahoo were slammed by Republicans and Democrats alike over business dealings in China. Elliot Schrage, vice president for global communications and public affairs at Google, was lashed repeatedly with the company's motto, "Don't Be Evil," as House members accused the corporations of abetting China's government in censoring Internet communications and imperiling the safety of Chinese Internet surfers.

It is an issue that Google and others know will not go away soon. Representative Christopher H. Smith, Republican of New Jersey, and other legislators are demanding that Internet companies be more sensitive when dealing with foreign countries.

Yeah, there's that mess, too. Another reason to enter the world of lobbying.

And here is a major "wtf??" moment:

"I think they are just going to lobby to spread this yarn that by being there, they're going to spread democracy," said Mr. Smith, who presided at the hearing. "This dictatorship can go on for generations if it's not unchecked."

Cute. Welcome to the world of politics and corruption at every turn, Google.

Tag: [Google], [Google enters the political battleground], [Google hires lobbyists to cultivate partnerships with key Republicans], [Google's political awakening], [Google grows up]

Condi Asks Russians To Probe Iraq Reports.

Source: AP via Breitbart.com

Did she ask nicely?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked her Russian counterpart on Tuesday for a "serious investigation" into reports that Russian intelligence fed U.S. battle plans to Saddam Hussein, the State Department said.

Rice made the request in a telephone call to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. The call came four days after the Pentagon released a report citing captured Iraqi documents that described the information exchange.

Obviously, Rummy and Pace are somewhat intelligent enough to know that you shouldn't screw with Putin uneasy about the reports, so they're downplaying the importance of the findings.

Even so, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld seemed to downplay the report. He said it may be worth looking into, but said he first heard about the allegations when the Pentagon issued the publication last Friday.

"It merits looking into," Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that U.S. officials "still don't know if the translation is 100 percent accurate" or if the report contained "real information or disinformation."

Tags: [Condi Rice], [Donald Rumsfeld], [Peter Pace], [Russia], [Russian reports show that Russia gave Saddam information about planned attacks back in 2003]

A Free Vietnam.

London Mayor Calls US Ambassador A "Crook".

Source: Reuters

He probably is...look who he works for. About time you catch on, Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Bush appointees have this black cloud of "crime" and "corruption" which follows them wherever they go.

LONDON (Reuters) -- London's rambunctious mayor, already fighting suspension for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, landed in fresh hot water on Tuesday for likening the U.S. ambassador to a "chiseling little crook."

Mayor Ken Livingstone has been quarrelling with the U.S. embassy since last year, when it announced it would not pay the "congestion charge" fee imposed on cars entering the city center.

The embassy says the charge is a tax and that diplomats are immune under treaty. Livingstone says the charge, one of his flagship policies, is a road toll which diplomats have to pay.

"It would actually be quite nice if the American ambassador in Britain could pay the charge like everybody else and not skive out of it like some chiseling little crook," the mayor told a television reporter.

Any foreign politician should be well-schooled in knowing that anyone working for the current Bush administration is above international, state, and local laws. Have you been in the "jungles of Africa" for the last five years?

I'm not condoning it by any means, but it happens more and more everyday.

I do say, Mr. Livingstone, you play the game of politics very well. Good day.

Tags: [Ken Livingstone], [mayor of London calls US ambassador a "chiseling little crook"], [US ambassador is not paying "congestion charge" fee], [London]

Great Firewall Of China.

Source: AFP

Yahoo co-founder says it's cool to help the Chinese government censor its people. After all, helping an oppressive government in the chase for the almighty dollar is the new "in" thing.

Thanks, but no thanks, Jerry.

This desire to help China hold its people down is very disappointing, to say the least.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang defended the Internet search engine's cooperation with Chinese censorship of the Web, saying it was necessary to reach out to new users.

US lawmakers have accused tech giants Yahoo, Google and Microsoft of helping sustain the so-called Great Firewall of China, which blocks searches of terms considered to be sensitive, such as "free speech" and "human rights."

But Yang said it was better to be in China than out.

"We have to think of a way in which the Internet phenomenon can continue to grow and reach more users and at the same time comply with local laws.

"In places like China and other places that have different political regimes I think you'll see them trying to react and potentially regulate these kinds of activities.

"But our observation is that it is inevitable that things will become more open and free flowing," Yang told reporters here ahead of the 10th anniversary of the search engine's Japanese site on April 1.

You have to love guys that bend over and take it up the a@# from the Chinese government without vaseline while smiling.

I guess I have never enjoyed the bore that company shills become when they are taught the company line like mindless sheep.

Have a spine, man. Grow a set, and show you actually are a man and can think for yourself. Or just bow down to your Chinese masters in the chase for more profits.

Tags: [Yahoo], [Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang], [Yahoo helps Chinese government with web censorship], [China], [Chinese government], [censorship], [Jerry Yang defends Yahoo's helping with censorship in China]

Stirring The Hornets' Nest.

US Troops Defend Raid, Say Iraqis "Faked Massacre".

Source: Reuters

I hope they are telling the truth, but the Pentagon and the truth are like bedfellows who don't know each other very well.

For example, three fourths of people killed in the first Iraq War ended up being shot by friendly fire. Another telling example was the razing of entire villages in Vietnam.

Come on guys, we aren't buying this BS anymore.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- U.S. commanders in Iraq on Monday accused powerful Shi'ite groups of moving the corpses of gunmen killed in battle to encourage accusations that U.S.-led troops massacred unarmed worshippers in a mosque.

"After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different from what it was. There's been huge misinformation," Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said.

He rejected the accusations of a massacre that prompted the Shi'ite-led government to demand U.S. forces cede control of security but declined to spell out which group he believed moved the bodies.

Government-run television has shown footage of bodies lying without weapons in what Shi'ite ministers say is a mosque compound run by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The security minister accused Iraqi and U.S. troops of killing 37 unarmed men.

Giving the first U.S. military briefing on Sunday's events in Baghdad, Chiarelli said the raid by about 50 Iraqi special forces troops backed by some 25 U.S. "advisers" had been the fruit of long intelligence work. But he said he did not know the religious affiliation of 16 "insurgents" who were killed.

I've got a more truthful take on this:

War planners get a tip that a "terrorist" is in the shrine.
It's actually a fake tip made by a rival faction.
We're the U.S...we do fact checking, right? Nope.
They storm a holy place, and well, 37 innocent, unarmed, dead civilians later, the rest is history.

After all, a military that's run by this administration would never intentionally commit a war-crime, now would they?

My mistake, I know the obvious answer to that one.

Tags: [Iraq], [troops raid shrine, kill unarmed worshippers], [troops defend raid], ["Iraqis faked massacre"], ["faked massacre," my ass]

Andy Card Is The First To Go.

Source: AP via Yahoo News


Out goes Andy...


...in comes Josh.

So Andy is the first to "resign". Who's next?

Bush spent time denying a shake-up, but if you have half of a brain, you knew it was coming. Republicans wish to keep control of Congress, and they need some sort of help from the White House to do that since everyone is fed up with the Bush Administration right now.

White House chief of staff Andy Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Joshua Bolten, President Bush announced Tuesday amid growing calls for a White House shakeup and Republican concern about Bush's tumbling poll ratings. Bush announced the changes in an nationally broadcast appearance in the Oval Office. "I have relied on Andy's wise counsel, his calm in crisis, his absolute integrity and his tireless commitment to public service," Bush said.

How is a budget director qualified to be chief of staff? And when is it Karl's turn?

Tags: [Andy Card], [Josh Bolten], [Andy Card resigns], [Bolten is new chief of staff]