By Steve Niva
Suicide bombings are back in Iraq, signaling that the war is far from over. After a significant downturn, with only six suicide attacks between December 2008 and March 2009, there have been 25 suicide bombings in Iraq in the last two months, contributing to the worst spate of violence in Iraq in nearly a year. The bombers have revealed a new audacity and sophistication, striking in all parts of the country and against many seemingly highly secured targets.
The new wave of suicide bombings culminated in a coordinated series of four bomb blasts across Iraq on March 23, three of them suicide bombings. The bombings spiked in April, with attacks on Iraqi army bases and police stations in Shi'ite enclaves and holy sites. Attacks also targeted US-backed Sunni militia leaders and US forces, including a massive suicide truck bomb in Mosul that killed five US soldiers, the deadliest strike on American troops in a year. The nearly 20 suicide bombings in April have made it the deadliest month in 2009 for Iraqi civilians, with nearly 300 dead according to Iraqi Interior Ministry officials, compared with only 51 killed in February and 70 in January.
With the seemingly forgotten war in Iraq now back in the media spotlight, US officials have downplayed the bloody surge in suicide bombings as a desperate response to the fact that the United States is successfully ending the war and withdrawing troops, as announced by President Barack Obama in a February 27 policy speech on Iraq. In a particularly embarrassing episode, the usually careful Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed former Vice President Dick Cheney's infamous 2005 claim that Iraq's insurgency was "in the last throes" by claiming that the mayhem in Iraq was simply a "last gasp" by al-Qaeda to "reverse the progress that's been made". During her unannounced visit to Iraq in late April, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quick to interpret the violence as a "signal that the rejectionists fear Iraq is going in the right direction".
The reality, however, is that the latest surge in violence isn't because the United States is leaving, but because the timeframe and terms of withdrawal are unclear. The real story behind the new wave of suicide bombings is that Iraqi insurgents are in conflict with the American backed Iraqi state and the US effort to perpetuate an order favorable to continued American influence and interests in Iraq even while American forces draw down, a policy long known in the region as neo-colonialism.
Obama may be making two mistakes from over-confidence: not trying to reach out to Republicans in Congress, and leaving the crafting of major legislation to the Democratic barons. Look for a modest revival of the GOP in the next election. If you take seriously the talking heads on the cable-news networks, you might believe that, less than four months into the Obama Presidency, the Obama agenda is rolling toward enactment and the Republican Party is in danger of dissolution. History would argue otherwise. President Obama is enjoying public approval at about the level that previous Presidents have enjoyed at this early stage. Democrats have solid Senate and House majorities (with their Senate majority growing as Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has changed parties and Al Franken is on the verge of certification as a Minnesota Senator). So soon after last fall's election, there is no single Republican leader who can serve as that party's rallying point. But it is far too soon to declare Obama and his program winners by technical knockout. First, the matter of political mandate: Obama's victory in the 2008 Democratic nominating race was razor thin. His general-election victory over Sen. John McCain was solid but not as large as expected. The financial/economic crisis — hard economic times always favor Democrats — buried a McCain campaign that was still competitive at the time the recession struck. (A comparable foreign policy/national security crisis might well have elected McCain). Democrats had a huge financial advantage over Republicans and, down the stretch, were outspending Republicans 3 and 4-to-1 in major electoral states. The outgoing Bush administration was hugely unpopular. Yet Obama won the popular vote by only a bit more than 6 percentage points. Obama's 2008 victory was nowhere near as large as those of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 or Lyndon Johnson in 1964, those to which it is most often compared. Democrats' Congressional majorities, likewise, are nowhere near as one-sided as those coming out of the 1932 and 1964 elections. In baseball terms, Obama's victory was 6-4 over the Republicans whereas the FDR and LBJ victories could be characterized as 10-1. Why does this matter? Presidents with huge popular and strong Congressional majorities can operate with freer hands than those who must pay greater attention to minority opinion in the Congress and country. (Yet, in 1965, Johnson took extraordinary steps to generate Republican and business support for his Great Society programs). Obama's nominating and general-election campaigns stressed bipartisan cooperation and his desire to end polarizing gridlock in the capital, but as President Obama has talked bipartisanship but has governed in a one-party manner. http://crosscut.com/2009/05/08/politics-government/18995/
If you look at what the Twitter community is saying when posting the fake link, it's a mixed bag. Everything from tongue-in-cheek takes -- "OMG! Swine flu virus has mutation...and it's now creating zombies!" says user redrisker -- to the dismissive: "Great example about trust and checking sources," Tweeted user MeManders. Another interesting dimension to this story is the URL that's used for the hoax. Just look at it: http://bouncewith.me.uk/europe/8027043.htm. Clearly, you're not being directed to the BBC News website. But it's important to remember that, on Twitter at least, a good portion of the URLs posted are turned into "short links," which save space. So users rarely look at what they're clicking on anymore -- until they get to the destination. Checking the URL, and whether it redirected to a legit website, may or may not happen. In this case, thankfully, most users seem to get the fact that the story is a joke, but we do seem to have the ideal forum for a potential War of the Worlds-like event. http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/05/zombie-swine-fl.html
New Research Finds Number Who Claim No Church Has Risen Sharply By DAN HARRIS New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church -- or to participate in any form of organized religion -- than their parents and grandparents.  "It's a huge change," says Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, who conducted the research.
Historically, the percentage of Americans who said they had no religious affiliation (pollsters refer to this group as the "nones") has been very small -- hovering between 5 percent and 10 percent. However, Putnam says the percentage of "nones" has now skyrocketed to between 30 percent and 40 percent among younger Americans. Putnam calls this a "stunning development." He gave reporters a first glimpse of his data Tuesday at a conference on religion organized by the Pew Forum on Faith in Public Life. The research will be included in a forthcoming book, called "American Grace." http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7513343&page=1
Support for the Swedish Pirate Party surged following the Pirate Bay verdict and today it became the third largest political party in the country. When they are elected for the European Parliament next month, the party hopes to end the abuse of copyright by multi-billion dollar corporations.  The explosive growth rate displayed after the Pirate Bay verdict has skyrocketed the Pirate Party's member count and today they've surpassed that of the Center Party. Of all the established parties only the Social Democratic Party and the Moderate Party have more members.
The Pirate Party has tripled its ranks in only three weeks up to 44,000 members, and it's on course to become the second largest political part in the country. TorrentFreak caught up with party leader Rick Falkvinge to congratulate him on this unprecedented achievement, and we used the opportunity to find out more about his future plans. First off, we asked him if the recent surge in members can be solely attributed to the outcome of the Pirate Bay trial. "The Pirate Bay verdict was not a single event, but the final straw in a long series of events," Falkvinge replied. "We tripled our member count in a week, and have kept growing at an accelerated pace. With just one month till the European elections, the timing of these horrible events arguably work as a catalyst for change." Falkvinge is looking forward to the upcoming European Parliament elections on June 6 this year. "I'm extremely optimistic," he told TorrentFreak. "It's not a question of 'a' seat any more. If everybody who is angry with the Pirate Bay verdict goes to vote, we will get at least one seat, and probably more." http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-3rd-largest-political-party-in-sweden-090506/
Woman: 'GOD' Spelled Out In Salami Is it a divine message or a meaty coincidence trapped in casing? A South Florida woman said she was cooking fried salami when she noticed the word "GOD" on the meat, Miami television station WFOR reported. Nancy Simoes said she had three pieces in a skillet and flipped one of them and saw the letter G. "Then got the O and I thought to myself how cool will it be if the third letter was a D." Simoes realizes people may think she's crazy. "I can't make this up. ... it's there in the burn marks."
 Memo to Sen. Arlen Specter (RD-PA): You're supposed to be a Democrat now.
In an interview with the New York Times, Specter stated in no uncertain terms that he wants Norm Coleman to win the disputed Minnesota Senate race: "There's still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner." So what exactly are the Dems getting out of this whole deal? Late Update: NRSC press secretary Amber Wilkerson gives us this comment: "First he voted against President Obama's budget, then he said he wouldn't be a loyal Democrat, now he wants Norm Coleman to win. We've never agreed so much with Arlen Specter. You just have to wonder whether Joe Sestak agrees with the positions of his fellow Pennsylvania Democrat?" Late Late Update: It's possible that Specter might have been telling a joke -- a really bad joke that someone in his position shouldn't even be attempting. I've put in a request for comment/clarification to his office, and have yet to hear back. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/specter-wants-coleman-to-win-in-minnesota.php
By David Ignatius WASHINGTON -- People have accused the baby boomers of being whiners almost since we were born. But just wait until we get to retirement age and discover that we don't have nearly enough money to take care of our "golden years." That's going to be the ultimate generational bummer. I've been gathering some data about what I'll call, with the usual boomer understatement, the "retirement crisis." My mentors have been Eugene Ludwig, the head of the consulting firm Promontory Financial Group, and his colleague Michael Foot. The numbers show a genuinely frightening gap between what people have saved for retirement and what they will need. And many of these studies don't take into account last year's stock market crash, which will make the problem worse. Let's start with the basic fact that only about half of Americans have any employer-sponsored retirement plan at all. The other folks will have to depend on Social Security. For a typical boomer worker, that would mean a monthly benefit of about $2,400 if you reach retirement age of 66 in 2020. On that, you won't be able to afford many lattes at Starbucks. But let's assume that our average worker is one of the lucky ones with an employer-sponsored pension. Not so long ago, that usually would have meant a "defined benefit" pension at retirement. About 80 percent of employees in medium and large companies had such plans in 1985, according to the Labor Department. By 2000, the defined-benefit recipients totaled just 36 percent. What's happened is that employees have taken on the investment and actuarial risks, as their employers shifted to "defined contribution" formulas. Employers now contribute to 401(k) plans that are managed by the employees. Unfortunately, workers often don't do a good job as investors. They underestimate what they will need in retirement, and they underfund their 401(k) plans. And as for shifting out of stocks before the market tanks, well, let's just forget about that. ... How bad are baby boomers at financial planning? Extremely bad, according to Annamaria Lusardi and Olivia Mitchell of the National Bureau of Economic Research. They found that more than one-quarter of boomer households thought "hardly at all" about retirement, and that financial literacy among boomers was "alarmingly low." Half could not do a simple math calculation (divide $2 million by 5) and fewer than 20 percent could calculate compound interest. The NBER researchers also found that, as of 2004, the typical boomer household was holding nearly half its wealth in the form of housing equity. Uh-oh. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/07/ultimate_generational_bummer_96377.html
by Brian Frederick While the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control spent the week informing the public with details on the H1N1 virus, the right-wing noise machine spent the week misinforming the public with paranoid theories about the virus. Because the flu virus may have originated in Mexico, the story provided some on the right with an excuse to engage in some good-old fashioned immigrant-bashing and renew their calls for greater border security. The story also provided right-wing media figures with more fuel for their fear-mongering about the Obama administration. As the story of the H1N1 virus emerged, it was initially referred to as the "swine flu," but the Obama administration called for moving away from that language because it was contributing to baseless fears that the virus had to do with pork consumption. This did not sit well with CNN's Lou Dobbs, who referred to people using the H1N1 terminology as "idiots" and claiming "they are out of their cotton pickin' minds." Such people include several of Dobbs' colleagues at CNN, including the network's chief medical correspondent. In response to the administration's request for a name change, radio host Neil Boortz suggested calling the virus the "fajita flu." But that was one of Boortz's more tepid comments about the virus. Boortz stirred up fears that the virus was some sort of "bioterrorist" plot, asking, "What better way to sneak a virus into this country than to give it to Mexicans?" Similarly, radio host Michael Savage claimed, "There is certainly the possibility that our dear friends in the Middle East cooked this up in a laboratory somewhere in a cave and brought it to Mexico knowing that our incompetent government would not protect us from this epidemic because of our open-border policies." After all, Savage claimed, the terrorists might have known that Mexicans "are the perfect mules for bringing this virus into America." It's hard to determine which came first -- the intolerance or the paranoia. http://mediamatters.org/columns/200905010048
"You outlasted the bastards, man," Bruce Springsteen told the roaring crowd. I think that was my favorite line at the rollicking birthday concert celebrating Pete Seeger's 90th! There were other uplifting, astonishing moments Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, at a five-hour concert which Seeger only OK'd because it raised much-needed funds for his Clearwater project--a non profit organization which the oft-maligned bard started in 1969 to clean up his beloved, polluted Hudson River. Fifteen thousand people, of all ages, (okay, median age was probably 55) danced, clapped and sang along as Seeger did a soaring version of "Amazing Grace" and the saintly looking Joan Baez sang " Where Have All the Flowers Gone." Arlo Guthrie reminded us that Pete, like his father Woody, "believed in the power of the people singing songs to change the world." Richie Havens reminded us why "Freedom" is a great anthem for all times. Tim Robbins and his son, strumming the guitar, to "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore." Ruby Dee entranced with her enchanting reading of a poem (for peace) written by Pete's uncle before he joined the Foreign Legion. In between, a startlingly youthful Emmylou Harris recounted correspondence she had with Pete as a young folk singer; Tom Morello and Taj Mahal teamed up on "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"), and John Mellencamp offered up "If I Had a Hammer." Congressman John Hall, once the lead singer for one of my favorite groups, "Orleans," joined in several rounds. Toward the end of the five-hour Seeger-apoza, Springsteen announced to the crowd, "Pete's gonna come out," and "He's gonna look like your granddad--if your granddad could kick your ass." If character and integrity keeps you youthful, and I believe it does. Seeger looked all of 25--of strong backbone and spirit and moxie and with keen eyes which are the stronger for having seen the best, and the worst, of our country's history. In so many ways, Pete is a repository of American history in himself. As Springsteen said, he has a "stubborn, nasty, defiant optimism," and he serves as "the stealth dagger through the heart of our country's illusions about itself." http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/432714?rel=hp_picks
Rooster wanders into Keokuk County jail SIGOURNEY — Cock-a-doodle-whoa.
By Jeff RaaschA rooster surprised deputies in Keokuk County this morning when it wandered into the jail from a house down the street. Dispatcher Terry Burger was on the phone with a reporter from The Gazette when the phone went silent.
"Whoa, we've got a rooster in here," Burger said. "Can you hear him?"
Burger said the rooster visits the jail occasionally. A residence nearby is home to about a dozen of them, he said.
"The people that live down the street have a fenced in area, and they sell eggs," Burger said. "Every once in a while, the kids leave the gate open and one wanders down here."
Burger said deputies shooed the rooster outside and went on with their day.
Once you allow figures into a landscape, it's hard to lock all narrative out. As Arthur Miller said on the set of the movie The Misfits in the Nevada desert: "The people were so little and the landscape was so enormous." It's hard not to see a story there. Consider Darius Kinsey's 1906 photograph Felling a Fir Tree, 51 Feet in Circumference. Here Kinsey shows part of a large tree, mortally wounded and flanked by small men with axes and saws. In the mouth of the tree's fatal crack lies a man, alive, relaxed, almost smiling. He is a picture of true machismo, casual and radiant in the face of death. Kinsey, who was clearly aiming for a David and Goliath tale, must have set up the shot: "You, there, you crawl into that crack, and I'll pay you a buck!" Still, the man in the maw really must have been brave enough to lie there. So I'd say this is not so much a pure fantasy as a tale of true grit. | | | Darius Kinsey, Felling a Fir Tree, 51 Feet in Circumference, 1906. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Forty-eight-year-old Susan Boyle is stirring up the nation on Britain's Got Talent. Bob Dylan, 67, is at number one in the album charts. And making them both look like spring chickens, 90-year-old Pete Seeger celebrated his birthday this week with a concert at Madison Square Garden, where he was joined for renditions of classic hits including If I Had a Hammer and Where Have All the Flowers Gone by Bruce Springsteen (59) and John Mellencamp (58). Isn't it about time these oldies stopped hogging the limelight? Young people can sing too, you know. 
The village of Creel was the site of narco-killings in broad daylight that shocked Mexico's conscience last year, but the Tarahumara Indians' subjugation to the cartels extends to even the most remote corners of their rugged lands, reports Yemeli Ortega. (Photo: ThierryB / Flickr)
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