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The Stars Hollow Gazette

I’m bitter.

What drives me nuts is that they think we’re stupid.

Too stupid to see what vacuous gas bags they are.

Too stupid to remember what they said.

So stupid that we’ll continue to buy their crap and vote for them.

They’re wrong.

Everyone gets the same TV and we can see them strut and preen and lie all day and you know what?

We hate them.

I don’t know why any of them thinks I haven’t spit in their coffee.

Because I have.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Hadley: `Cop-out’ to skip Olympics start

Associated Press

8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – It would be a “cop-out” for countries to skip the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics as a way of protesting China’s crackdown in Tibet, President Bush’s national security adviser said Sunday.

The kind of “quiet diplomacy” that the U.S. is practicing is a better way to send a message to China’s leaders rather than “frontal confrontation,” Stephen Hadley said.

President Bush has given no indication he will skip the event. “I don’t view the Olympics as a political event,” Bush said this past week. “I view it as a sporting event.” The White House has not yet said whether he will attend the opening ceremony on Aug. 8.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Clashes kill 13 in Baghdad’s Sadr City

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 20 minutes ago

BAGHDAD – Shiite militants fought U.S. and Iraqi forces around Baghdad’s Shiite district of Sadr City early Saturday despite a call for calm by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr following the assassination of one of his top aides.

At least 13 Shiite militants died in the clashes, which erupted Friday night and tapered off early Saturday, the U.S. military said. Iraqi police reported seven civilians were killed as a result of the fighting between U.S and government troops and al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.

Al-Sadr blamed the Americans and their Iraqi allies for the assassination Friday of one of his top aides, Riyadh al-Nouri, director of his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf. Gunmen ambushed al-Nouri as he was returning home from Friday prayers.

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 General won’t promise more Iraq pullouts

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

5 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – The top U.S. commander in Iraq told Congress Tuesday that hard-won gains in the war zone are too fragile to promise any troop pullouts beyond this summer, holding his ground against impatient Democrats and refusing to commit to more withdrawals before President Bush leaves office in January.

Army Gen. David Petraeus painted a picture of a nation struggling to suppress violence among its own people and to move toward the political reconciliation that Bush said a year ago was the ultimate aim of his new Iraq strategy, which included sending more than 20,000 extra combat troops.

Security is getting better, and Iraq’s own forces are becoming more able, Petraeus said. But he also ticked off a list of reasons for worry, including the threat of a resurgence of Sunni or Shiite extremist violence. He highlighted Iran as a special concern, for its training and equipping of extremists.

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Yup.  That “Surge” sure is working-

Anxiety Rises Over Vulnerable Housing In Iraqi Green Zone

By Sholnn Freeman, Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 8, 2008; Page A08

BAGHDAD, April 7 — A little after sunrise on Easter Sunday, a mortar shell or rocket crashed into Paul Converse’s trailer inside the Green Zone, the rigorously defended seat of U.S. power in Iraq. Converse, who once told his brother he felt safer in Iraq than on American freeways, died the next day.

Converse’s death has underscored the vulnerability of housing facilities in the Green Zone to artillery and missile attack, spreading fear among thousands of security contractors, interpreters, American soldiers and embassy personnel.

A 56-year-old government auditor, Converse was the first of four Americans to die in Green Zone shelling in the past two weeks. Four days after Converse’s death, Mazin Zwayne, a 62-year-old American civilian working for the Defense Department, was killed in a shelling attack. On Monday, shells killed two American soldiers and wounded 17 others. It is so far unclear whether the others were also killed in trailers, in part because the U.S. Embassy, citing security concerns, generally refuses to give details of where shells and rockets hit.

Crackdown on Militias May Add to Instability in Iraq

By JAMES GLANZ and STEPHEN FARRELL, The New York Times

Published: April 8, 2008

BAGHDAD – A crackdown on the Mahdi Army militia is creating potentially destabilizing political and military tensions in Iraq, pitting a stronger government alliance against the force that has won past showdowns: the street power wielded by the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

But the badly coordinated push into Basra has unleashed a new barrage of attacks on American and Iraqi forces and has led to open fighting between Shiite militias.

Figures compiled by the American military showed that attacks specifically on military targets in Baghdad more than tripled in March, one of many indications that violence has begun to rise again after months of gains in the wake of an American troop increase. Overall attacks on Baghdad more than doubled, to 631 in March from 239 in February, reflecting new strikes against the Green Zone, the fortified headquarters for Iraqi and American officials, as well as renewed fighting in Sadr City between the Mahdi Army and American and Iraqi forces.

So let’s bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran-

Next Hot Topic In U.S. Campaign: The Iran Question

Sharp Differences In Viewpoints Echo Discord on Iraq Issue

By YOCHI J. DREAZEN and LAURA MECKLER, The Wall Street Journal

April 8, 2008; Page A3

WASHINGTON — Iran might end up sharing center stage when Gen. David Petraeus and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, testify Tuesday before Senate panels featuring the three presidential candidates.

Iran is emerging as a hot-button campaign issue, with the candidates differing sharply on what approach to take toward Tehran and its hard-line leadership. Likely Republican nominee John McCain, who has been delivering warnings on Iran, told reporters ahead of the hearing, “I think you’re going to hear more about the Iranian influence, the arms they’ve provided, the money, the training, particularly the extent of their influence in southern Iraq. It’s pretty extensive, and I think he’s going to be talking about that.”

The three candidates differ over Iraq, but the disagreements about Iran are just as striking. Sen. Barack Obama has offered to negotiate with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions. His rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, has described Iran as a threat to U.S. interests across the region and voted in favor of labeling Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist force. Sen. McCain favors tough sanctions against Iran and has hinted that he would use force to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Sweet dreams.

McSame, Cokie Speak

McCain promotes surge, warns of hasty withdrawal

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor, The Boston Globe

April 7, 2008 10:02 AM

On the eve of the key appearance before Congress by General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain will argue today that the new counterinsurgency strategy backed by the “surge” of American troops last year pulled the war-torn country back from the abyss and “opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi.”

“Much more needs to be done, and Iraq’s politicians need to know that we expect them to show the necessary leadership to rebuild their country,” McCain continues. “….But there is no doubt about the basic reality in Iraq: we are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success. Success in Iraq is the establishment of a generally peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic state that poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists. It is the advance of religious tolerance over violent radicalism. It is a level of security that allows the Iraqi authorities to govern, the average person to live a normal life, and international entities to operate. It is a situation in which the rule of law, after decades of tyranny, takes hold. It is an Iraq where Iraqi forces have the responsibility for enforcing security in their country, and where American troops can return home, with the honor of having secured their country’s interests at great personal cost, and helping another people achieve peace and self-determination.”

Iraq PM: Shiite militia must disband

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 54 minutes ago

BAGHDAD – The prime minister issued his strongest warning yet to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to disband his Mahdi Army militia or face political isolation. The Sadrists said Monday a move to ban them from elections would be unconstitutional.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, said two more soldiers died in roadside bombings Sunday, raising the day’s American death toll to at least five. The announcement comes a day before the two top U.S. officials in Iraq are scheduled to brief Congress on prospects for the eventual withdrawal of American troops.

Gunbattles also continued Monday in Baghdad’s main Shiite district of Sadr City, a day after fierce clashes broke out when some 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops began an operation to push deeper into the Mahdi Army’s largest stronghold.

With tensions rising, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, told CNN Sunday that al-Sadr’s followers would not be allowed “to participate in the political process or take part in upcoming elections unless they end the Mahdi Army.”

The inability of the Iraqi forces to curb the militias has cast doubt on their ability to take over their own security. The top American officials in Iraq – Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker – are to start briefing Congress Tuesday on the prospects for further reductions in the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

Glenn on Cokie below the fold…

New Markos @ Newsweek

Markos has a new piece up at Newsweek, the first one since November 26, 2007.

For the intro and some instant analysis, join me below the fold.

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Bush aides put upbeat spin on summit

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

2 hours, 31 minutes ago

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – White House officials waged an extraordinary campaign during an 11-hour Air Force One flight to put a positive spin on the outcome of Sunday’s summit talks between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Four times on the long flight back to Washington from Sochi, Russia, Bush aides trooped back to the press cabin to make the case that the summit had turned out well, particularly on missile defenses.

It was the heaviest lobbying campaign veteran reporters could recall ever occurring on the president’s plane. Press accounts of the summit had been sent to Bush’s plane and administration officials thought they were too negative. Clearly, Bush’s aides were disappointed.

Because of course, it’s only the lipstick that matters.

The Blithering Idiocy of the DC Establishment

by dday, Hullabaloo

Sunday, April 06, 2008 05:34:00 PM

We’re going to hear a lot of crap in the next week out of the Administration and their spinners, and robots like Cokie are going to lap it up because, you know, “Americans would prefer to win.” That’s just an ignorant and dismissive remark, and it sadly represents the depth of understanding of the tragedy in Iraq inside The Village. Of course, Cokie’s just repeating what “real Americans” think; that it happens to line up with establishment opinion and helps provide cover for their epic mistake of going along with the initial invasion is just a nice perk.

St. McSame?  Beltway Media darling?

He Didn’t Mean What He Meant

by digby, Hullabaloo

Saturday, April 05, 2008 12:51:00 PM

On the best of days, John McCain’s fanboys rival 12 year old girls screaming themselves faint in the front row of a Jonas Brothers concert, but this rush to ensure that that mean Barack Obama didn’t “get away” with using McCain’s own words against him on the stump was a profile in Xtreme Flyboy-love. Once again, McCain is excused for saying something completely shocking because his scribbling sycophants are sure he “didn’t really mean it.” One can only imagine what it would be like if all candidates were given the benefit of the doubt on such matters.(I’m sorry Jay, but this proves once again that they have not learned any lessons from their irresponsible behavior of the past few years.)

The U.S. establishment media in a nutshell

by Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com

Saturday April 5, 2008 08:11 EDT

Needless to say, these serious and accomplished political journalists are only focusing on these stupid and trivial matters because this is what the Regular Folk care about. They speak for the Regular People, and what the Regular People care about is not Iraq or the looming recession or health care or lobbyist control of our government or anything that would strain the brain of these reporters. What those nice little Regular Folk care about is whether Obama is Regular Folk just like them, whether he can bowl and wants to gorge himself with junk food.

Our nation’s coddled, insulated journalist class reaches these conclusions about what Regular Folk think using the most self-referential, self-absorbed thought process imaginable. The proof that the Regular People are interested in these things is that… the journalists themselves chatter about it endlessly.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Four Star Final

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 22 killed in Sadr City clashes

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 23 minutes ago

BAGHDAD – Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces battled Shiite fighters in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood in clashes that killed 22 people and wounded dozens despite a cease-fire between the government and the militia, officials said Sunday.

To the north, police said gunmen seized 42 students off a bus near the city of Mosul – al-Qaida’s last major urban stronghold – but later released them unharmed.

The U.S. military said that fighting broke out overnight in Sadr City, a stronghold of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militants. Officials at two local hospitals said 22 people were killed and 92 wounded. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, did not say whether the casualties were civilians or fighters. U.S. and Iraqi forces released no information about the casualties.

A police officer said that a U.S. Stryker armored personnel carrier was damaged in the fighting, which continued with sporadic exchanges of fire through Sunday morning.

Two armored Humvee vehicles and two trucks belonging to the Iraqi army were also destroyed, said the officer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

How about that “Surge Success” Betrayus?

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Candidates to press Petraeus on Iraq war

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

1 minute ago

WASHINGTON – When Army Gen. David Petraeus delivers his assessment of the Iraq war next week, the next commander in chief will weigh in as well.

Republican Sen. John McCain will get a chance to argue that last year’s U.S. troop buildup has been a success and withdrawal would be a mistake. Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama will have an opportunity to ask why the United States is still fighting more than five years after the invasion.

All three presidential contenders serve on Senate panels that will hear and question the top U.S. military commander in Iraq when he testifies Tuesday. McCain and Clinton serve on the Armed Services Committee; Obama is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

The Stars Hollow Gazette

You realize of course, this means war.

What a bunch of whiny Ass Titty Babies our Beltway Bozos are.  Their egos too fragile to stand up to the rough and tumble of the internets.

You morans.  You bet we are laughing at your vapid Village Idiot insights, your breathless discovery of the obvious.  It has been a staple of deconstructed entertainment for years how hackneyed and formulaic our sitcoms and dramas are and your reductionist telepromptered “newscasts” are no different.

We’re not only on to you, we’re smarter than you are.

You’re a bunch of blow dried brainless buttkissers who’s only special talent is for being relentlessly wrong!

Oh, and mutual mental masturbation you feces flinging lice grooming primates.

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Well, Richard Gilmore will not be so happy about this and neither am I since we’re both Formula 1 fans.

Actually me not so much, since I’ve really always been partial to American open wheel road track racing, especially during the glory years of CART when their turbocharged 8s kicked the ass of the effete normally aspirated 10 and 12 cylinder sewing machines that powered the effeminate aerodynamic computerized robo-cars of Formula 1.

Those days are gone and all that remains is turning left bumper cars to amuse the tailgating brain dead beer drinking NASCAR bozos who think professional wrestling is a real sport.

Well goodbye dinosaurs and your petroleum polluting global warming antics.

Gone the way of polar bears and penguins you no longer amuse me.

(h/t Atrios)

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