While we may not hear much about it, there's still violence in Iraq. A car bomb killed 15 people two days ago and wounded 90 at a market in the northern town of Tal Afar.

Several bombings on Tuesday killed around 40 people in northern areas, where al Qaeda militants are still feared despite a series of military offensives.

Now that Bush and McCain and the neocons have done a 180 on Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, it's clear they're playing politics with our sons and daughters lives.  

I wouldn't be surprised if they made a deal with Iran--call off their Iranian commanders in Iraq for three months in return for the U.S. not attacking Iran, but rather starting diplomatic talks.

How much more damage can they do in the next three months?

If there's anything we've learned about the Bush administration, it's that whatever they say, the opposite is true.  

The occupation of Iraq may be winding down, but maybe that's because Bush already got the oil companies no-bid contracts in Iraq.  

Or maybe they've continued to bribe opposition forces, handing them money every week.  

Maybe they've been talking to Iran all along and have come to an agreement--don't let oil go over $150, call off Iranian forces in Iraq until January 2009 so it looks like a success, all in return for us not attacking them.  

While we may not hear much about it, there's still violence in Iraq.  A car bomb killed 15 people today and wounded 90 at a market in the northern town of Tal Afar.

Several bombings on Tuesday killed around 40 people in northern areas, where al Qaeda militants are still feared despite a series of military offensives.

I know there have been many posts about the misinformation regarding China, Cuba and drilling offshore.  
As I understood, it, China is not, and will not be drilling offshore. 
Can anyone shed some light on this? 

I'd like to see the Democrats step up to the plate more forcefully when criticized by Bush, McCain and the neocons.   
So far, the Bush message is to blame the Democrats for high oil prices and the crumbling economy and the old "surrender" line in Iraq.  
They should lock themselves in a meeting and not come out until they have a well-thought out strong unified and synergistic communications strategy.  That includes demanding equal press time.  
Obama is one man.  The Democrats need to emerge with one voice.  On Iraq, on oil prices, on the economy, all factions of the democratic party agree.  They should take what they have in common and drive it home powerfully and with conviction.  

Sorry for such a short post.  But I think this encapsulates the difference between McCain and Obama pretty succinctly. 

I think the fact that the administration's long-term desire to occupy Iraq, along with Iraq's desire to demand a timetable for withdrawal is pretty significant news, though it seems to have dissipated over the weekend.  
The "new" news today is that Bush is lifting the executive ban on off-shore drilling, which in and of itself, changes nothing, but acts as a big PR push for Congress to lift the ban.  
It's certainly not unimportant, but our status of engagement in Iraq is bigger, more consequential news, and it's being glossed over by the White House. 
It's clear that the news cycle is something that different interests compete for.   
But the media doesn't spend enough time on each topic. Rather, they drift from story to story without any depth whatsoever, as if they're really just a television version of a news wire.  
Today, MSNBC did a segment on "How to attack Obama".  
Should a news organization really encourage that kind of discussion?

Just came across this really strange story,  allegedly coming out of Tehran claiming that they've discovered a new field with about a billion barrels of oil, only 225 million of which is recoverable.  
The world consumes 85 million barrels a day, so unless my math is wrong, that's a little over 2 days worth of oil.  
This isn't exactly something to write home about.  
The story came across the AP so Washington is somehow behind it.   I'm just not sure what the motives are.