Reuters AlertNet - FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Nov 29

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb near a minibus wounded six passengers in Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb near a minibus wounded five people near a hospital in central Baghdad, police said.

Reuters AlertNet - FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Nov 29

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire on Wednesday in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

MOSUL - A car bomb wounded two policemen in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAQUBA - Twelve people were killed and 25 wounded in a Katyusha rocket attack in al-Salam village near the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

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Duh, Earth to AP

The number of U.S. troops killed in November remained at a low not seen since March 2006 on Thursday, a respite from years of bloodshed that forced some 2 million Iraqis to flee and prompted the buildup of nearly 30,000 more American forces.

Ok, get this.Casualties are lowest since March 2006, a respite from years of bloodshed. Since when is a year and a half qualify for "years of bloodshed"

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Reverend Hotfeet

Do you know where your Pastor is tonight? Ordinarily, family values wingnut preachers , well, value sticking around their families. Not so this guy. But he’s got an ironclad excuse, one that fellow Religious Right Wingers ought to find plausible and sympathetic .

"The pastor of a Hammond church who mysteriously vanished in 1980 in what was described as an abduction by a satanic cult has been rediscovered as an Arkansas mayor."

"Don LaRose admitted to newspaper reporters Tuesday he left his wife and two daughters behind in Hammond. He said he fled because he was about to be abducted by a group of shadowy figures who had kidnapped him in New York five years earlier."

Well, who wouldn’t hi-tail in out of there when shadowy figures figure into things. And of course he couldn’t tell his wife and children cause the nightcrawlers might have them bugged or something.

But never mind, he landed square on his feet.

"LaRose has gone by the fake name Ken Williams for 27 years, and maintains a talk-radio show, a new marriage and has served as the mayor of Centerton, Ark., since 2001."

Well at least he made another family, so he can’t be all bad.

“He seemed to be a great man, with integrity, honesty, a good rapport, he loved people, good communicator,” said Lee Roy Floyd, the janitor at the church and a 45-year member of its Deacon Board. “You think, good gracious, this is a good find.”

In other words a typical Republican.

And those sneaky devil dog Satanists , now you see ‘em now you don’t.

"The day before he disappeared, he was speaking to a group in the church, and in the middle of his sermon he stopped talking and looked at the back of the room. No one who turned around saw anything, but LaRose later claimed he had seen one of the Satanists through a window."

“And the next day he left. He was gone"

Pass The Catsup Please

NOT GRANDMA'S SUGAR CURED HAM

CNN) -- It may not be the most appetizing reading before a hearty holiday meal, but the New England Journal of Medicine is devoting part of its Thanksgiving issue to a giant hairball -- and not the feline kind.art.hairball.nejm.jpgDoctors say this hairball removed from a woman's stomach weighed 10 pounds.The prestigious journal details the case of a previously healthy 18-year-old woman who consulted a team of gastrointestinal specialists.She complained of a five-month history of pain and swelling in her abdomen, vomiting after eating and a 40-pound weight loss.After a scan of the woman's abdomen showed a large mass, doctors lowered a scope through her esophagus.It revealed "a large bezoar occluding nearly the entire stomach," wrote Drs. Ronald M. Levy and Srinadh Komanduri, gastroenterologists at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.For the uninitiated, a bezoar is a hairball."On questioning, the patient stated that she had had a habit of eating her hair for many years -- a condition called trichophagia," they wrote.Doctors untangle the strange case of the giant hairball - CNN.com

And a redhead at that. On the upside hair is known to be low-fat and low-cholestoral.

Crooks and Damn Crooks

Official probing Rove now under investigation himselfJason RhynePublished: Wednesday November 28, 2007del.icio.us del.icio.us | StumbleUpon Print This Email This The federal official helming a probe into potentially illegal partisan political activities conducted by Karl Rove and other White House officials is himself the focus of a federal investigation.Scott Bloch, the Bush-appointed head of the US Office of Special Counsel, is under investigation for the alleged improper deletion of emails on office computers, The Wall Street Journal's John R. Wilke reports.

The Raw Story | Official probing Rove now under investigation himself


A Special commission was created today to attempt a finding of just one honest person in the Bush Administration. George Bush, through White House spokesperson Dana Perino, stated he would veto any attempt by Congress to investigate anything about his Administration. When Democrat leaders in Congress got word of Bush's position on their efforts, they immediately backtracked saying they would compromise by invoking "The Pretty Please" clause of the Constitution. When it was pointed out there was no such clause in the Founding Document of the country, democrats were visibly shaken then announced they would begin hearings to discover where their collective spines had gone. Anonymous sources inside the White House reported Mr. Bush giggled sardonically upon hearing democrats plans.

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Explosive News From Bombistan

A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. convoy wounded three civilians in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, police said.

11/27/07 Reuters: Car bomb wounds 4 civilians in Mosul

A car bomb wounded four civilians in Mosul, police said.

11/27/07 AFP: Suicide blast hits police HQ

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled vest in front of police headquarters in the central Iraqi city of Baquba on Tuesday, killing six people and wounding seven, police said. Among the dead were three police officers and two women...

11/26/07 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills 1, wounds another in Mosul

One civilian was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol exploded in the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

And it's five, six, seven
open up the pearly gates
Whooppee! we're all gonna die

My goodness only three car bombs, time to break out the victory flags.

Update-- make that 4, count 'em four kablooy's. I'll learn to count when I grow up.


Update 2--

11/27/07 MNF: Female suicide bomber wounds 12, including 7 U.S. soldiers

A female suicide bomber detonated an explosive laden suicide-vest, wounding seven U.S. Soldiers and five Iraqi citizens in Baqubah, Nov. 27. The injured were taken by helicopter to a Coalition Forces hospital for treatment.

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Lamest of Lame Ducks

Israel, Palestinians commit to peace timetabletemplate_bastemplate_basPresident Bush announces that both sides have agreed to a joint document that commits them to work toward a treaty by the end of 2008.By Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer9:22 AM PST, November 27, 2007WASHINGTON -- President Bush announced today that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to a joint document that commits them to work toward a peace treaty before the end of next year.

Israel, Palestinians commit to peace timetable - Los Angeles Times

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Actually, Bush's belated effort to hold this conference is a welcome action. Although it remains to be seen if he and the others genuinely follow up on today's peaceful gestures. Unfortunately, If past history of the last 7 years is any guide, there will be little if any engaged follow-up. With Hamas now in charge of the Gaza Strip and their intransigence of accepting Israel's right to exist, it is unlikely any real progress will be made. I suspect this is George W. Bush trying to spruce up his God awful legacy of the Iraq quagmire and general incompetence on a range of issues.
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"The reason to establish a Palestinian state now, said Bush, after years of diplomacy of failure, is that "a battle is underway for the future of the Middle East -- and we must not cede victory to the extremists."

Israel, Palestinians commit to peace timetable - Los Angeles Times

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What a tragically comic statement from Mr. Bush. After 7 years of nearly total disengagement from the Israel-Palestinian dispute, he claims exasperation for the failure of diplomacy that didn't happen under his watch. I'm past being outraged by shit like this from the Bush administration. We're less than a year away from the 2009 Prez election [we hope] and nothing short of impeachment and removal from office will change anything Bush does between now and then. I'll Just continue howling at the moon when the need arises.

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