I wrote before about the Iraqi National Conference, and its date of THIS SATURDAY!!

Well it has been postponed for two weeks and in October it will probably be delayed again. MSNBC has some coverage saying that the delay is the fault of the Iraqis. But wouldn't the current security situation be the real problem. Almost 70 killed yesterday, assassinations weekly, and a list of security shortfalls that would make me ignore the conference.

"A crucial national conference considered a key first step in the country's fledgling move toward democracy was postponed for two weeks, a conference organizer said Thursday, a day after a massive car bombing that killed 70 people.

The conference had been scheduled to begin Saturday, but has been postponed until mid-August, according to Abdul Halim al-Ruhaimi, a conference organizer.

The gathering had been plagued by severe difficulties before it even began, with key political groups promising to boycott and leaders in ethnically diverse areas unable to agree on slates of delegates to send.

Iraqi media had reported that less than half the nation's 18 provinces had chosen their delegates just days before the conference was to begin."

Ukraine is out of Iraq. . .

The face off of the year.

O'Reiley vs. Moore

~americanEntropy~

PROOF that electronic voting is not a good option:

"Detailed electronic records from Miami-Dade County's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines were lost in computer crashes last year, erasing information from the September 2002 gubernatorial primaries and deleting some records of other elections, election officials said Tuesday."

[. . .]

"The loss of data underscores problems with the touchscreen voting machines, the citizen's group said. "This is a disaster waiting to happen," said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition. "Of course it's worrisome."

The group is concerned about the machines' effectiveness, following revelations about other problems with the system. Last month, state officials said the touchscreen systems used by 11 counties had a bug that would make a manual recount impossible. Earlier this month, a newspaper study indicated touchscreen machines did not perform as well as those that scanned paper ballots."

I think some things do not belong in the "ether" of the computer age. A dissertation, money, important files and a vote in a democracy.

This Obama guy really stirred thing up in Boston tonight! I missed it but got this from Kos:

"Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and a white America -- there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States [...] but I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

That must have been good! People can't stop talking about this guy.

Newsweek has a good piece by Christopher Dickey. It mentions all the conspiracy theories that float around but then mentions another overlooked bump in the road for Iraq. October in Iraq, the temp is dropping and Ramadan begins the 16th.

In the immediate future, this Sat. the Iraqi National Conference will meet for a three-day event. How many officials does Iraq have left?

Something to keep an eye on.

Reagan, Jr. just got nasty for the left. Comparing bush's compassion to mere ideology. Broke down the argument at hand and made it hard to be against it.

907 boots on the ground, Copley Square, Boston.

Each one with a name.

and if you speak out, you have to do it from here...

or here.

Thx to Kos and Talkleft.

New poll from the battleground states are in. . .

Prezdent Clinton was very good as well. . . night!

Jimmy Carter is making an awesome speach right now.  Very good and very capable of showing up Mr. Prezdent Clinton?.?.?.

Coverage is streamed all day long at Air America Radio.  Just letting ya know wut'sup.

Anyone else listen to President Gore tonight and if so did he deserve this headline?

 

Juan Cole is a wealth of opinion this morning.  Interesting PoV. . .

Also, the right finally got their rebuttal for the Cheney rant.  Mrs. Kerry had this brief outburst of stupidity.

and to end this unusual "Tough on Kerry" post Ron Reagan had an article on MSNBC.com with the link saying that he is using democrats.  I think a lot of people are using the Dems.  We only get two parties to pick from so we want the best one to win.