April 15, 2008

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Cleric Sadr key player in helping poor Iraqis

April 15, 2008 in Featured by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via Reuters.)

The anti-U.S. movement of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is now Iraq’s main humanitarian organization helping needy Iraqis, a relief group said in a report that is certain to cause concern in Washington.

In the report published on Tuesday, Refugees International said Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia as well as other Shi’ite and Sunni Arab militias were expanding their influence by providing food, shelter and other essentials to Iraqis left destitute by war.

The findings underscore Sadr’s mass appeal ahead of provincial elections in October and will cause concern for U.S. officials who see reducing the influence of the militias as one of the Iraqi government’s key challenges.

Sadr’s political movement will compete for the first time in the local polls and is expected to make gains at the expense of other Shi’ite parties supporting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Sadr, once an ally of Maliki, has split with the prime minister.

The Washington-based Refugees International said the Sadrist movement was operating on a similar model to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a group sponsored by Shi’ite Iran that provides a range of humanitarian services in Lebanon.

“Through a Hezbollah-like scheme, the Shi’ite Sadrist movement has established itself as the main service provider in the country,” said the report.

“This sustainable program provides shelter, food and non-food items to hundreds of thousands of Shi’ites in Iraq.”

Full story here.

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McCain Backs Newspaper Shield Law

April 15, 2008 in Featured by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via washingtonpost.com.)

John McCain told newspaper executives Monday that he supports a “shield law” to protect reporters who refuse to reveal their anonymous sources, putting him at odds with the Bush administration, which has threatened a veto of the bipartisan legislation.

The senator from Arizona said he still worries that national security could be threatened by people who reveal secrets to the news media under a cloak of anonymity, but he said he is willing to trust that reporters will use the power wisely.

“It is, frankly, a license to do harm, perhaps serious harm. But it’s also a license to do good; to disclose injustice and unlawfulness and inequities; and to encourage their swift correction,” he told editors at a forum sponsored by the Associated Press.

His comments put him in direct conflict with some of his GOP colleagues in the Senate, who have criticized the legislation. In a letter to Senate leaders last week, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey called it “unnecessary and unwise” and said it would “wreak havoc on national security and other investigations.”

McCain said : “I take a very, very dim view of stories that disclose classified information that unnecessarily threatens or makes it more difficult to protect the physical security of Americans. I think that has happened before, rarely, but it has happened.”

But he said if the vote on the bill were taken today, “I would vote yes.”

The Senate’s shield measure, which is sponsored by Democrat Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, is being reworked to address some of the security concerns, according to aides to Democratic senators.

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Bush and Pelosi Step Up Clash Over Trade Pact

April 15, 2008 in Featured by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via New York Times.)

President Bush and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, intensified an increasingly personal fight over a stalled trade deal with Colombia on Monday, trading accusations over who was best protecting the interests of American workers.

Mr. Bush, still angry about Ms. Pelosi’s surprise decision to rescind a requirement that the House take up the trade deal within 60 days, called the action a snub to a strategic ally in South America. And Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. canceled a meeting with the speaker on other economic initiatives that had been scheduled for Monday.

“This free trade agreement is in our national interests, yet that bill is dead unless the speaker schedules a definite vote,” the president said. “And it’s not in our country’s interest that we stiff an ally like Colombia and that we don’t encourage our goods and services to be sold overseas.”

Ms. Pelosi fired back, hurriedly scheduling a rare Monday meeting with reporters to suggest that the president was putting his trade agenda ahead of Americans’ economic troubles while pursuing stale economic policy.

“For seven long years, the president’s failed economic plan has stiffed the American people,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters.

Ms. Pelosi said she was willing to bring the trade pact to the House floor for a vote “under the proper circumstance,” but there appeared to be little movement toward finding a resolution.

“First, we need to address the worsening economy in our country,” she said.

Full story here.

Video of the Day: 4-15-08

April 15, 2008 in Video by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

The Philly Jefferson Jackson Dinner: Hillary vs. Obama

April 15, 2008 in Campaign 2008, Democrats by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime.)

But Obama did talk about it, asking supporters to stand by him “if you understand that people really are angry, they really are fed up, some of them are really bitter, because Washington has forgotten them.”

“It’s not me who’s out of touch,” he continued. “It’s folks that think that somehow folks are happy when they’re out of a job and they lost a pension and they don’t have heath care and their schools are underfunded. I know exactly what folks are going through.”

“And,” Obama added for good measure, “I go to church.”

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Pat Buchanan’s Speech

April 15, 2008 in Campaign 2008, Republicans by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via To The Letter Writer.)

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America. Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation.

White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to. This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American. Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans.

Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks - with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.

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Pa. voters divided over Obama remarks

April 15, 2008 in Campaign 2008, Democrats by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via msnbc.com.)

Yes, some Democrats in Pennsylvania’s Rust Belt communities were upset by Barack Obama’s suggestion that voters there “cling to guns or religion” because of bitterness about their economic lot. But many more seem to think it was no big deal — and if there’s a problem it’s with the political slapfest that has followed.

Obama’s comment, which the Illinois senator made during a San Francisco fundraiser last week, set off an exchange of insults between the final contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination as they vie for blue-collar support in the state’s April 22 primary. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized the comment as “elitist,” while Obama has mocked the New York senator’s own recent emphasis on support for gun owners’ rights.

Full story here.

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McCain: It’s a recession

April 15, 2008 in Campaign 2008, Republicans, The Economy by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via msnbc.com.)

John McCain says he believes it’s a recession.

Speaking at The Associated Press annual meeting in Washington today, McCain said economists may have a technical definition of a recession, but from his perspective the important factor is “that Americans are hurting.”

He also said Barack Obama’s comments that some small-town voters are bitter over their economic situation were “elitist.” He said those are the same people whose children are overseas defending the nation.

Full story here.

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Quinnipiac Poll: Clinton Keeps Lead in Pennsylvania

April 15, 2008 in Campaign 2008, Democrats by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire.)

Sen. Hillary Clinton has stalled Sen. Barack Obama’s drive in Pennsylvania and holds a 50% to 44% lead among likely primary voters, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

“There was no noticeable movement in the matchup in polling April 12 - 13, following widespread media reports on Sen. Obama’s ‘bitter’ comments.”

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Embarrassed I’m Surprised

April 15, 2008 in Democrats, Senate by Tony Steidler-Dennison | No comments

(Via Talking Points Memo.)

NAPITALIANO: Hey Sen. Lieberman, you know Barack Obama, is he a Marxist as Bill Kristol says might be the case in today’s New York Times? Is he an elitist like your colleague Hillary Clinton says he is?

LIEBERMAN: Well, you know, I must say that’s a good question. I know him now for a little more than three years since he came into the Senate and he’s obviously very smart and he’s a good guy. I will tell ya that during this campaign, I’ve learned some things about him, about the kind of environment from which he came ideologically. And I wouldn’t…I’d hesitate to say he’s a Marxist, but he’s got some positions that are far to the left of me and I think mainstream America.

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