Politics Blog

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Hollywood writers will strike after last-ditch talks called by a federal mediator failed.

Writers and studios broke off talks late Sunday after East Coast members of the writers union declared they were officially on strike, the group representing producers said.
Last-ditch negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers ended after about 11 hours.
…
The first casualty of the strike would be late-night talk shows, which are dependent on current events to fuel monologues and other entertainment. Daytime TV, including live talk shows such as “The View” and soap operas, which typically tape about a week’s worth of shows in advance, would be next to feel the impact.

I have a hard time getting excited about thousands of auto workers striking but apparently I’m suppose to be worried now about Hollywood writers, producers and directors not getting enough rake on DVD sales?

As if brining in replacement writers or producers for a show like “The View” could really make them ‘that’ much worse? Does anyone really care? If so why.

— KnightHawk

So I was reading this review of Thompson’s performance this afternoon from PMSNBC cause I don’t subscribe to local channels via my satellite service I can’t watch meet the press, etc, which is actually a blessing even if occasionally like today I wanted to watch. Anyway, so I get to end of the article which seems like it was trying to stretch the performance into a negative one and I come across the final note about 30 “umms” and 9 throat clearings which pretty much confirmed to me I probably wasn’t reading an unbiased account. Following that I read another review over at Politico which was more friendly to Thompson. Eventually I finally found the full video over at Ian Schwartz’s site (good resource I might add) and watched for myself. It runs about 40 minutes if your interested.

Here’s a quick paraphrased recap, none of which is really news or a departure from prior statements.

Read

Iran: Be prepared to attack them try everything else first, including supporting those opposed to current government. Our options are something like not good, bad, and really bad, will not be a easy decision for the president.

Iraq: The world, friend and foe alike are watching closely. We finally have a group on the ground that seems to know what the hell their doing, our troops and commanders should be allowed time to continue to be successful, now is the worst time to be talking about timetables and jacking funding from underneath them.

Pakistan: Musharraf knows his country better then we do, while recent events are not encouraging we shouldn’t overreact until we understand what it is Musharraf thinks he sees and his reasoning for his most recent actions.

Torture: If and when specifically needed to protect America - you dam tooting!

Abortion: No constitutional amendment protecting unborn, Roe v Wade should be overturned and the matter left to states. Would not vote in favor of a state law criminalizing abortion even though opposes the practice. Does not want the federal government involved in supporting the practice in any way.

Schiavo: Less government involvement the better.

Gay marriage: Judges have turned marriage on it’s head, would support legislation to correct the problem judges are creating. If a state legislature and it’s governor decided to redefine marriage that would be ok even though FT doesn’t agree.

Philip Martin: Good friend ofwhich he’s not spoke with yet about the revelations of his cocaine dealing past. Not about to immediately throw a friend under the bus over what seems to be some bad decisions made some 20+ years ago.

Health: Legitimate issue, doing well, will continue to make available information and documentation or whatever else has been customary in the past.

I thought he did pretty darn well, certainly better then in the debates, gave direct and what seemed to me at least thoughtful, if not good answers on the few topics discussed. Didn’t surprise me at all that Tim didn’t ask a single question about immigration, it did surprise me that Russert didn’t cut Thompson off and interject as much as I’m used to seeing him do. I really think this “Philip Martin” BS is pathetic and don’t really give a flying corn flake what some friend and campaign member did some 20 odd years ago unless it directly involves the candidate. The only thing I learned from this interview was that FT would not vote for a state law criminalizing as he put it “young girls and doctors”, the federalism piece was already well known. The performance didn’t give me the urge to write him a check, but then again nobody’s performance to date has had that effect with me yet.

— KnightHawk

No, it is not:

In Iraq, it seems good news is deemed no news. There has been striking success in the past few months in the attempt to improve security, defeat al-Qaeda sympathisers and create the political conditions in which a settlement between the Shia and the Sunni communities can be reached. This has not been an accident but the consequence of a strategy overseen by General David Petraeus in the past several months. While summarised by the single word “surge” his efforts have not just been about putting more troops on the ground but also employing them in a more sophisticated manner. This drive has effectively broken whatever alliances might have been struck in the past by terrorist factions and aggrieved Sunnis. Cities such as Fallujah, once notorious centres of slaughter, have been transformed in a remarkable time.

Indeed, on every relevant measure, the shape of the Petraeus curve is profoundly encouraging. It is not only the number of coalition deaths and injuries that has fallen sharply (October was the best month for 18 months and the second-best in almost four years), but the number of fatalities among Iraqi civilians has also tumbled similarly.

Well, it’s only encouraging if you’re a proud American. Which eliminates a majority of the American left.

Related,

In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday.

Saad al-Azawi, his wife and four children are among them. They fled to Syria six months ago, leaving behind what had become one of the capital’s more dangerous districts — west Baghdad’s largely Sunni Khadra region.

“Six months ago, I wouldn’t dare be outside, not even to stand near the garden gate by the street. Killings had become routine. I stopped going to work, I was so afraid,” he said, chatting with friends on a street in the neighborhood.

Not to worry, the “reality based community” is busy talking about the horrors of dunking terrorists head’s underwater or SCHIP or something.

— The Ace

From the San Francisco Chronic:

Two men were shot dead and another was wounded in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, and three juveniles were shot in Oakland in a 19-hour whirlwind of violence ending early today.

One of the victims was wearing a bullet proof vest when he was shot in the head, according to Mayor Gavin Newsom.

…

The mayhem started just before 8 a.m. Friday when two men were shot at Garlington Court and La Salle Avenue, in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco. Both were taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where one of the victims, listed as Sir Marcus Bibbs, 21, of San Francisco, was pronounced dead, according to a spokesman in the medical examiner’s office.

There are three lessons here: first, congratulations to Mayor Gavin Newsom on the success of his San Francisco gun ban. Second, don’t wear a bulletproof vest to a head-shooting contest. Third, don’t call yourself Sir Marcus if you can’t back it up with some vicious swordplay.

— W.C. Varones

WASHINGTON - Declaring near-victory against al-Qaida, Sunni officialsfrom Iraq’s Anbar province laid out Friday what they want now from the United States: money to rebuild its battle-damaged cities, help expanding its police force by a third and private U.S. investment in its oil reserves.
…
While Sunni territory is not known for its oil reserves, recent studies have found increased estimates of modest deposits. Al-Alwani said he invites private investors from the U.S. to help develop Anbar’s oil and natural reserves, located in a southern region called Akaz.

“It’s just sitting there, waiting for somebody to make use of it,” said al-Alwani.

Hilarious. You simply can’t make this stuff up.
Ah yes Mr. Al-Alwani but the minute those companies make a move the they’ll be accused of aiding and abetting the “War for Oil”. Paging Haliburton… paging Haliburton.

— KnightHawk

BBC

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has declared emergency rule and suspended the country’s constitution. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has been replaced and the Supreme Court surrounded by troops, who also entered state-run TV and radio stations. Gen Musharraf defended his actions in a national address, saying he was curbing a rise in extremism in Pakistan.

Well not entirely, just major parts of the Constitution.
The left will love this part:

The moves come as the Supreme Court was due to rule on the legality of Gen Musharraf’s October election victory.

AP -

Seven of the 18 Supreme Court judges immediately condemned the emergency, which suspended the current constitution. Police blocked entry to the Supreme Court building and later took the chief justice and other judges away in a convoy, witnesses said.
…

Sounds like what needs to be done with some in the 9th Circuit and elsewhere.

A copy of the emergency order obtained by The Associated Press justified the declaration on the grounds that “some members of the judiciary are working at cross purposes with the executive” and “weakening the government’s resolve” to fight terrorism.

That too could be said of the judiciary and political parties in at least a few other countries.

SkyNews

He said: “Pakistan is at the point of destabilization. I personally with all my conviction and with all the facts available to me consider that inaction at this moment is suicide for Pakistan and I cannot allow this country to commit suicide.

“Therefore I had to take this action in order to preserve the democratic transition I initiated eight years back.”

The Bush and Brown administrations says they are “deeply concerned”, providing the understatement of the day. I have to wonder if some aren’t some quietly relieved.

The PakistaniTribune has more details on the Provisional Constitutional Order, and what articles of the 1973 Constitution have been suspended. Looking up a few of those listed gave me this list:

Equality of citizens
Freedom of speech
Freedom of assembly
Freedom of association
Freedom of movement
Safeguards as to arrest and detention
Security of person - (No person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with law)

What about articles 2 and 31 that deal with the Islamic nature of the nation? Those stay of course.

— KnightHawk

More on Murtha,

Concurrent Technologies began two decades ago doing metalworking research in Pennsylvania’s struggling rust belt. In the years since, the Johnstown, Pa., company has become a federal contracting chameleon.

It is an intelligence adviser, an environmental consultant and a software engineering specialist. It has trained mine-detecting dogs and managed religion-based initiatives. It oversees construction projects, organizes conferences and studies ways to use hydrogen for fuel in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Missile-defense research is part of its portfolio. So is the development of special armor for combat vehicles in Iraq and “solid waste technology” in Florida.

And it is a nonprofit charity.

Behind the rise of Concurrent is Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee, who helped arrange funding to launch the organization in 1988. Murtha has since arranged millions of dollars more in directed congressional appropriations called earmarks.

The party of ethics working for you!

— The Ace

Indeed it is!

Hillary Clinton’s tangle with the immigration issue this week is likely to present itself again this presidential campaign, as she and other Democrats toe a difficult line on the issue that divides potential supporters.

But in the meantime, a host of problems associated with illegal immigration continue to worsen, according to some members of a University of Pennsylvania panel on immigration at the National Press Club today.

“The American political system is gridlocked on this issue,” said Rogers Smith, moderator of the seminar and a professor of political science at Penn. “There’s no consensus on change. The problems associated with immigration – health care, housing, economic security – all those are continuing to get worse.”

The challenge for Democrats is that many Latino and civil rights leaders lean against drastic reform measures, while some potential Democratic voters are worried about the economic and cultural impact of immigration and want to see some kind of crackdown.

Clinton highlighted the dilemma in Tuesday’s presidential debate, when she seemed to both support and differ with a New York plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

If the Republicans ran to the right on this issue and the war, along with government spending and taxes, Hillary’s! political career would be relegated to lackluster Senator. Let’s see if they can do it.

— The Ace

An interesting update on the SAVE Act:

So far, 41 other Democrats and 34 Republicans have agreed to co-sponsor the bill

That’s 75 sponsors already on a truly bi-partisan bill. If we can get this bill voted on, it will pass by an overwhelming margin in the House and put pressure on the Senate to bring the bill up for a vote.

— PoliPundit

More news from the quagmire,

More than four months after U.S. forces completed a 30,000-strong force buildup, the death toll for both Iraqis and Americans has fallen dramatically for two months running.

U.S. commanders credit a new tactic of putting troops into neighborhood bases and of signing on disaffected former enemies as new allies in the fight against the most radical elements in both the Shiite and Sunni communities, especially al-Qaida in Iraq. Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also has called a cease-fire, a move seen largely responsible for the drop in sectarian murders.

On Feb. 23, when the death toll was five, the foreshortened month would end with 1,801 Iraqis killed. While impossible to forecast what this month holds, Friday’s stunningly low figure follows an Iraqi toll of 905 last month. The number was 1,023 in September and 1,956 in August. The figures for U.S. military deaths followed the same downward trend: 84 in August; 65 in September; 39 last month.

Iraqi: ‘Things are looking better now‘
As if sensing a possible shift in the capital, Iraqis in mainly Shiite eastern Baghdad have returned to the streets in numbers not seen in months.

Don’t worry, Hillary! doesn’t really know what her position is on this. Obama wants to have a “counterterrorism force” in Kuwait and Edwards would bring thetroops home immediately.

— The Ace