Many in the blogosphere will remember Maura Keaney as Maura in VA, when she backed down the Virginia Legislature’s attempts to require women to report a miscarriage to the authorities within 12 hours or face a $2500 fine and a year in jail.
Then she moved to CT, and others will remember how she confronted Joe Lieberman on camera (Lieberman called her a “plant“). Or how she put Barbara Boxer on notice that yes, Joe Lieberman DID say a “short ride” to another hospital for rape victims who wanted emergency contraception was no big deal.
And still others will remember her valiant work on the Ned Lamont campaign.
Maura is one of the most beautiful, smart, articulate, hard-working women I know. And she’s just been named as Jim Himes’ new campaign manager.
She recently attended the DCCC “boot camp,” and sent the above photo with Blue America candidates Jon Powers, Ron Shepston, Dan Maffei, Darcy Burner, Eric Massa, and Jim Himes.
A pretty impressive bunch.
Congratulations, Maura.
This is very exciting.
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Evil spinning refresh!!! Heh.
Hi Jane and LS!
Hail muse, hail Jane!
Hmmm.
Maura attain, yeah!
Loo Hoo. @ 2
Loo Hoo….booo…hoooo…are you okay???
Jane!
Loo Hoo!!! How are you?!
404 on the first link, mod.
punaise @ 4
Love…it….
We are still here aren’t we????
punaise @ 4
I don’t get it. Ken ya tell me what it means? *g*
Right on.
Maura!!!
Jane! Rainy Friday Night blogging? :)
Mauritania?
Hugh @ 11
*g* eography, old bean…
I’m fine! No fire damage and no looting here. Had the gardener hose down the house and hardscape instead of mowing etc. today. It was all filthy outside, but no problems indoors other than the odor. SO NICE TO BE BACK!! Thanks.
Bustednuckles @ 14
Ding!
Woohoo!! Congrats to Maura. We need to get more people that involved in campaigns. Fight the Rahmbo influence.
Loo Hoo!
Virgina is for lovers, but your womb belongs to the state?!?!
Loo Hoo. @ 16
Good to know you are okay.
Loo Hoo. @ 16
So glad to hear that.
Loo Hoo. @ 8
Loo Hoo,
Welcome back! Glad you’re OK.
I can see the link fine but when I first came in the pictures were missing. I did a hard refresh and the pics are there now so maybe that would work for you.
OT: Looters flocked into our neighborhood during the Oakland Hills fire. We tried to make sure at least one neighbor was watching the street at all times. Difficult overnight with the power gone.
One occasionally despairs for humanity.
Hmmm.
Brooks on the NewsHour: Just because Iran is an evil warmongering country responsible for most deaths in Iraq who want to wipe Israel off the map and have nuclear weapons, doesn’t mean that we will be sending in the planes soon. This is like putting out a fire by pouring gasoline on it. He blames the Democrats for not having a policy on Iran. While this is true, Bush is the President at the moment. Oh and where is his demand for a Republican policy on Iran?
Loo Hoo. @ 16
w00t!
It works now. Thanks, dakine. Is Old Coastie okay? Peanut Butter, Burns, mommybrain, rwcole, etc.
Loo Hoo. @ 27
I believe all have checked in OK in the last day or so.
OT – Dang, I just EPU’d myself twice. I just answered a couple of questions to me from 2 threads ago (I have a bad cold & logged off too quickly).
I’m in awe of Maura and of course so glad that LOO HOO is back.. Thanks Jane.
I am really sick of the Hillary/Obama media crappola…this does not ring true to me..maybe it’s just me…
Maybe I’m “radical left” and don’t matter…BTW..I do not like to be “defined” by people I don’t respect, like the same media that allowed a major agency of the security of the United States of America to blatantly lie to me today in the wake of a terrible tragedy, and that is not the first time I’m sure, they are apparently professional liars all around, I’m sick of it, I see it, I won’t believe it ever..ever..ever…I kinda catagorize that as illegal behavior by an entity paid for by our taxes….oh, my…what radical thinking…good goddess..
It is not that I have anything against anyone, I just don’t like having things rammed down my throat without my permission….
Dodd made such a great speech today – rule of law, the Constitution…. Dorgan made a great case for Iraq corruption…$46 for a case of Coca Cola…WTF???? It is our money. They work for us. This has to stop.
I’m going with the Rule of Law, and that means Dodd.
Hip hip hooray for Maura!
I remember the Boxer meltdown well, and wish you the very best Maura!
Maura! Wooo-hooo!!!!
She made the mistake of telling me about this maybe a week ago, and within minutes the local internets was buzzing with the news.
I still don’t know how that happened!
But the great thing is, we might be losing a front-pager on My Left Nutmeg, but we’ll be gaining a progressive Congressman in Washington!
This news made me very happy.
Loo Hoo. @ 27
I’m fine, OC has been here on and off during the day; the fire’s moving into Silverado — which just makes me want to cry, that place hasn’t been hit by fire for a 100 years — but that’s not by Trabuco which seems to have been under control today. Rwcole’s fine and I’ve seen the rest at least since last night if not today.
Hugh @ 25
Since you went there…I was looking at the so-called maps of where the mysterious “bombing” actually took place…I have not been able to locate that part of the Euphrates in Syria via Google Earth yet. I suggest people check it out. It may be like the cartoons that appeared prior to the invasion of Iraq. Just Sayin’. Check out their propaganda!
Jane!!!
Maura!!!
We can all be glad that Jim has her as manager. Crazy Shazy has no idea what he is in for.
Peanutbutter, good news except the Silverado risk.
And, dear, Happy Birthday!
Echo???!!!
OT but I just got my new issue of Mother Jones…and it has a big ad in the middle for American Spirit cigarettes. What the hell?
Fema fake buttfest up next on KO.
OT, but who the !*&(S*#! are these people? FEMA got caught red handed staging a phony press conference to spread self-congratulatory propaganda… AGAIN??? Just what level of misrule are expected to tolerate?
‘WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House scolded the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday for staging a phony news conference about assistance to victims of wildfires in southern California.
The agency — much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago — arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of independent reporters Tuesday and ask questions of Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the agency’s deputy director.
The questions were predictably soft and gratuitous.
“I’m very happy with FEMA’s response,” Johnson said in reply to one query from an agency employee.’
Wow, thank you, Jane! And you even took time to find a halfway flattering pic of me and take the red-eye out. You’re the best!
As I wrote at MLN today:
I’m really proud to be working for Jim Himes – there aren’t many people in the world who could inspire me to take on this endeavor, but he’s one of them. Of course the FDL community has known how great Jim is for a while now.
Thanks for the kind words and for your continued support and encouragement.
‘Course, if firepups want to help pay my salary, the Blue America page is the way to go! :-)
Isn’t that group pic of some of the Blue America candidates great? I loved being able to meet so many of them. The only Blue America candidate who was there who I failed to get into the picture was Charlie Brown, who was up in his room when I finally was able to corral everyone else. I was so impressed with all of them — so down-to-earth, committed, smart, and courageous! I can’t wait to take another similar group pic in January 09 when they all take their seats in Washington.
Blub @ 41
….and you were expecting a real conference with Fema on Faux? lol
Per KO -
“FEMA eliminates the middleman and passes the propoganda (sp?) savings on to you!”
I love this man! *G*
ccmask @ 40
Yeah. That is really rich. Oh…we lied to you, but we only lied to you because your questions are generally uncomfortable for us, so we decided to “act” our our press conference.
How frigging despicable is that???? Our taxes pay these people to lie to us????
They are so caught!!! This is so outrageous!!!!
People’s lives are ruined…and they have to lie…paid for by our money….
So…what else is new???? They’ve been playin’ us all along!!! Why can’t the country get this???!!!
KO calls it a depress conference.
“Hi Mom, it’s Todd Beamer”.
What else do you have to know????
Heckva job Harvey.
Congrats Maura!
congratulations maura, I know you’re input will be invaluable to any candidate.
MAURA in the house!! You go.
WOW
Good for you Maura!
I think he made a smart move! Very smart.
Congratulations!
Maura @ 42
w00t, congrats!
ccmask @ 46
707!
It’s so cool that they streamlined the news and didn’t waste money with bobblehead reporters.
This administration really understands the value of a dollar and how to save a buck. That’s an impressive move.
I think we’ll see more of the news streamlining. Don’t you?
Maura, That is fantastic! Congrats! Himes’ rabid lamb support, which was already strong, has just gone through the roof. I was so impressed with your efforts during the Lamont campaign, and this news is a “real world” example of what happens when you stand up to the bullies.
The pendulum is swinging faster and faster.
Kerry, Obama, and Durbin call for checks on Blackwater’s calling employees Independent Contractors.
Thanks, Henry.
Loo Hoo. @ 57
Obama, as part of his grand campaign to sell out to the Christian right, can always call for them to be redeployed to face down the gay menace.
Loo Hoo. @ 57
Lieberman is sitting on top of the equivalent committee in the Senate. Are they doing anything? chirp, chirp
Good to see you, Blub, and ccmask!
ccmask @ 46
I really don’t see why shrub doesn’t do this with all press conferences involving the executive branch…
707, al-qaida zombies
Congratulations Maura. Himes is fortunate to have you and can learn a lot from you, as well.
WOO WOO LOO HOO!
WOO HOO MAURA!
Never have so many been so happy for a couple of great dames….. ;~)
You too LooHoo. I have been laughing my butt off for the last couple of minutes reading the comics at Get Your War On.
Especially, in response to a Newsweek article stating that after 4 years into the Iraq war, as many as 4 in 10 Americans still believe Saddam was directly invloved financing, planning and carrying out the terror attacks on 911.
So, the comic says:
Girl: Well, now I know what it feels like to wish that 4 in 10 Americans would immediately kill themselves. It feels bad.
Guy: Oh, come on: Think of how easy the parking will be!
Girl: The thing that makes my head hurt is more people think Saddam caused 9/11 than approve of Bush’s job performance. I mean, what the heck do you do with that factoid.
I thought that was very funny.
Maura! Congratulations!!!
Dana Perino WPITW for claim that climate change brings health benefits becuz folks don’t die of the cold.
Oh, by the way, got my Plame book today. And my learn Italian CD’s. I’m so excited.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
John Amato at C&L reporting Laura Ingram will be the primary fill in for departed Michele Malkin.
dakine01 @ 67
KO’s mock voice was funnier than the quote!
Good to see you, Blub, and ccmask!newspaperbrat @ 69
Has Malkin departed? I saw she quit O’Reilly before the fires, but is she really gone?
newspaperbrat @ 69
At least there will be a mind, warped as it is, at work.
tw3k @ 70
How much caffeine & hairspray does Dana Perino consume per day?
ccmask @ 65
David Rees’ sense of humor is pretty awesome. And fwiw, my GYWO black t-shirt is my favorite workout wear.
To answer my own question, YES!
ccmask @ 65
funny, I love sharp degrading humor on the GWOT!
The FEMA conspiracy to blatantly lie to the public is somewhat alarming. Why aren’t people flipping out over this???
Loo Hoo. @ 71
According to John Amato at Crooks & Liars who reported this within the hour. tra la la la la.
eCAHNomics @ 73
no coffee, she just huffs the hairspray!
newspaperbrat @ 64
Thanks!!!
Speaking of great dames, one thing that struck me when I was out at the AFSCME/New House PAC boot camp last weekend was not just the shortage of women candidates, but the dearth of women campaign staffers. Christine Pelosi’s group actually had a lot of women staffers there, which was great, but most of the candidates were with male managers. One of the people who was most influential in convincing me to take this position was Amy Little, John Hall’s campaign manager from the last cycle, who emphasized to me how important it is that we have more women in senior leadership roles on campaigns.
All the more important for me to succeed at this…and all the more reason why we’re going to win this one, with your support!
LS @ 77
Can we hope that there will be headline articles tomorrow morning in the NYT and WaPo?
Just asking – the Dodd speech from this morning – has anyone found a site where the video has working audio? The one at his Senate page played video, but was silent for me…
newspaperbrat @ 78
Is Fox News Racist? Why did they can a racist Asian-american and replace her with a racist WASP?
Dru @ 74
I’ve been reading there for years and just love the humor. I had forgotten to visit for a couple of months so I really enjoyed it tonite.
Pardon my ignorance, Maura. Who is Christine Pelosi working for, or is she running?
Loo Hoo. @ 81
We shall see.
Loo Hoo. @ 85
I was sitting next to Christine in Chicago during the debate. She was live blogging it.
Loo Hoo. @ 71
wasn’t she canned for physically stalking that 12 year old McConnell swiftboated? Or was it the 2 year old she stalked?
Maura
Great news. Congrats. Looking forward to working with you to take back the Fourth.
All the best
Joe
Blub @ 88
Exactly.
Blub @ 88
2Qs. What makes a person as sick as she is? And why does anyone give such a sick person any public time?
ccmask @ 84
Sometimes there are long waits between posts so I haven’t been keeping up either. Thanks for the link!
LS @ 86
The WaPo0 in the guise of the In The Loop column I think broke the story this AM.
but people aren’t really going batsh*t crazy about it because the incompetence is just so inartful and glaring it is only to be mocked and pitied.
eCAHNomics @ 73
I know snorting hairspray gives you that glazed eye look, but I had no idea rinsing with caffeine gave you perky hair!
eCAHNomics @ 91
1. Her secrets.
2,. Whatever benefits them.
Aargh, Leahy, Whitehouse, and, Feingold, among other SJC Dems had better nix Mukasey’s nomination…
“President Bush’s choice for attorney general told senators Friday the Constitution does not prevent the president from wiretapping suspected terrorists without a court order.
Michael Mukasey said the president cannot use his executive power to get around the Constitution and laws prohibiting torture. But wiretapping suspected terrorists without warrants is not precluded, he said.
‘Foreign intelligence gathering is a field in which the executive branch is regulated but not pre-empted by Congress,’ Mukasey wrote in response to questions by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01901.html
newtonusr @ 82
selise recorded a mp3
LS @ 90
She got frosted by Frost.
newtonusr @ 82
http://ctbob.blogspot.com/2007…..efend.html
tw3k @ 97
Of course she did!
Thanks tw3k
Congratulations, Maura. Your candidate is lucky to have you. Miss you in VA. DFV has never been the same without you.
Blub @ 88
She “resigned” because Geraldo Rivera had called her a racist or other names on his show, apologized on BungleO BillO’s show and she didn’t think it was a sincere apology.
Or she may have been fired and used the Rivera bit as her excuse.
Connecticut Bob @ 99
Nice! Thanks Connecticut Bob!
Whenever I get fired for being a racist I always use the ole Rivera trick.
Maura- that is great news.
I followed the Lamont campaign from the get go, and I certainly remember your work!
Best wishes
and, waves to CTBob!
See…as I see it tonight…the media lays out an “individual story”…all the time…one condition of “life” to tell their bogus story…
There are 300,000,000 milion stories all the time just in America. You cannot tell just one isolated story in order to illustrate your limited version of “truth”…in order to influence the whole country…if you tell the truth…well, well, well…that just ain’t so…is it?
Well, well, well….
Loo Hoo. @ 85
Loo Hoo, Christine Pelosi was one of the organizers of the boot camp. She actually just published a book called Campaign Boot Camp: Basic Training for Future Leaders.
ccmask @ 87
Is she part of the DCCC now? Or is she on Dem welfare, so to speak.
Connecticut Bob @ 99
Cool, I hadn’t seen the vid yet, thanks.
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 108
I have absolutely no idea.
CTuttle @ 96
Wow, that is troubling, in that it is the same line AbuG held … the Constitution serves at the pleasure of the President …
it’s time to see what the SJC is made of …
Hi Maura –
I have followed all you have done –
Thank you!
ccmask @ 104
Um, I thought the “Rivera trick” was to wax your mustache.
eCAHNomics @ 91
1: Money !
2: More Money !
Hooray, Maura!
planetjanet @ 101
Janet, wow! Janet from Occoquan?? So great to hear from you!! I’ve been rooting for you all n Virginia from afar this year — there are some great candidates running for House and Senate in VA this year, and I can’t wait to hear about your victories in 10 days!
I miss the whole DFV crew a lot. Hope you are well.
LS @ 106
But if you don’t use anecdotal evidence you have to use statistics and everyone knows those are one step worse than damn lies.
And let’s face it, if you’ve had a drink at a bar with a guy whose mailman’s niece’s teacher’s cousin once had the same thing happen… well, it must be epidemic!
Joe Scordato @ 89
Thanks, Joe! I know with your commitment and the enthusiasm and dedication of a growing Democratic grassroots in the 4th, our team and Jim Himes can pull it off next year!
GordonM @ 117
Yeeeupp!
ccmask @ 98
She stalked the Frost boy and his family and attacked them maliciously as per orders from on high. When the whole deal backfired b/c America likes SCHIP and 12 year old sick kids and their hard working parents, she got canned. She was sacrificed by the Republican machine. They hope it will be sufficient and Mitch McConnell will be safe from further examination for his devious actions in the matter. The media has moved on and away from McConnell. We got the little one and the big one got away.
How easily they replaced Malkin with White Bread Ingram. She’ll be vicious too, but much more stealthy.
LS @ 90
Which begs the question why O’Really still has a job. I don’t think he’s personally stalked anyone yet (aside from perhaps his sexual harassees), but he’s certainly sicc’ed Fox security and his own underlings on people he doesn’t like… although no children or toddlers as far as I’m aware, yet.
So…how does “ex-Michelle Malkim” lead her life….
Interesting.
OT –
Pam Spaulding for Glenn Greenwald: More Obama campaign miscalculations
LS @ 122
cheerleading?
LS @ 122
You mean “Malkin X”?
Most interesting that this is the title of Michelle Malkin’s headline right now:
What does FEMA stand for: Fake Emergency Media Actors
Maybe she’s good and pissed off!
I went into the day old bakery yesterday and a customer was explaining SCHIP to the women who works there. He was going on about what a stinker Bush was and how he would never vote Republican today. He said the problem is that people are lazy and don’t know about anything going on. He turned and looked at me and said “I bet you don’t know who the Carlyle Group is. I said, Please, don’t get me started….but of course, by the time I left, the woman behind the counter had her mouth hanging open in disbelief about the goings on in Washington.
Maura- I remember Lamont saying CT is the land of steady habits (primary celebration)
Just interested to know if CTers have woken up to the awfulness of Lieberman, and if this will feed an appetite for change in CT-04. I would certainly hope so!
LS @ 122
The best thing she could do is flip sides, but she’s neither smart enough to do it nor savvy enough to pull it off. She will blog her way into obscurity. So close to right wing stardom! She can cry in her beer with Cruella Harris.
hackworth @ 129
Yeah, she strikes me of the mentality of a “lady of the night”…she just does it and tells them how virile they are, because she gets the money…..
Tis good news for Maura and GREAT news for Jim Himes.
Oh — and very bad news for Chris Shays.
TeddySanFran @ 131
I remember Maura from FDL many moons ago. Her comments were very impressive. Sharp as a tack. Best Wishes To You, Maura. Shays is horrible. Please hand him his arse.
I don’t think Ingram’s virulently entertaining enough to attract the same following.. although I agree she’ll be vicious. Somebody at Faux should try giving Pammy a shot. That should be fun.
SanderO @ 55
It’s already happened. Some we know about: JimmyJeff Gannon, Armstrong Williams. Some we don’t know the specifics, but the appearance is all there: David Brooks, George Will, Doughy Pantload, Michelle Malkkkin.
Hey, Mi Amigo! (((Petro)))
Here is some more fuckery…
“When the United States military command accused the Iranian Quds Force in January of providing the armor-piercing EFPs (explosively formed penetrators) that were killing US troops, it knew that Iraqi machine shops had been producing their own EFPs for years, a review of the historical record of evidence on EFPs in Iraq shows.”
-snip-
“In a report on February 23, NBC Baghdad correspondent Jane Arraf quoted “senior military officials” as saying that US forces had “been finding an increasing number of the advanced roadside bombs being not just assembled but manufactured in machine shops here”.
Nevertheless, the Bush administration decided to put the blame for the EFPs squarely on the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, after Bush agreed in autumn 2006 to target the Quds Force within Iran to make Iranian leaders feel vulnerable to US power. The allegedly exclusive Iranian manufacture of EFPs was the administration’s only argument for holding the Quds Force responsible for their use against US forces.”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/M…..7Ak05.html
LS @ 77
Our local news covered it as well. Sometimes, when you lie to the media about things that affect the media’s paycheck, they rouse themselves from their stupor. This, they seem to be paying attention to. I would expect the gasbag shows to cover it during their “panel discussions” this Sunday as well.
Ox being gored, etc.
CTuttle @ 135
Hey CT !
Sadly, many outside of the U.S. know all of this and how BushCo skewered info. to justify the Iraq invasion.
America has lost most, if not all of its credibility and can only convince others to go along with bribery or holding a gun to their heads …
Maura @ 116
Sure hope you guys have success in Virginia next month, especially defeating Tom Davis’ wife!
From Juan Cole:
That Iran is trying to destabilize the Shiite government in Baghdad is absurd. The Bush administration charge that Iran is the source of explosively formed projectiles is based on very little evidence and flies in the face of common sense; in fact these bombs are probably made in Iraq itself or perhaps come from Hizbullah in Lebanon.
The charges are frankly ridiculous, and certainly are so if proportionality is taken into account. That is, if one bomb was sold by an Iranian arms dealer to the Taliban for profit, a hundred bombs were given to the Taliban by Pakistan for tactical reasons. Likewise, the Shiite militias in Iraq have killed very few American troops when the US troops have left the Shiites alone; most attacks on the US come from Sunni Arabs.
The Senate Kyl-Lieberman resolution helped legitimize this new Bush policy, which is why the senators should not have voted for it. It took us one more step down the road to war with Iran.
Ya know, watching that above video with Barbara Boxer fawning over HoJo is really disturbing. This is one of our Liberal advocates in the Senate?!?
The intense contempt pouring out of her mouth and shooting out of eyes is unbelieveable! How dare you little people question us! This really says alot about what we’re dealing with now with Pelosi and Reid. Even the “liberals” in Congress are only concerned about protecting their little worlds.
Man, the power of CTBob and Maura focused in on Shays…does Christopher even stand a chance? With Shays’ quick temper, I’d love to see CTBob ask him questions….alot.
ATTACCKKKKK!!!
bonkers @ 140
Shays’ lovefest with Erik the Red’s Blackwater is a classic that should bite Shays in the ass hard.
So it must be true, Lieberman moved to Stamford so Joe and Hannah and Hadassah could all vote for GOP-buddy Chris Shays! But with Maura Kearney and Kim Hynes and DFA Southwest Connecticut and many other Dean and Lamont and Farrell campaign veterans —- whoa boy — those Baghdad frequent flyer miles won’t be coming in much longer!
Sam Cooke, 1964
Congratulations Maura.What was astonishing was to see the so called “liberal” BBoxer supposedly anti war go all the way to CT to campaign for Lieberman & then to lie for him as well.
All Boxer did was confront “Condiliar” Rice in asenate hearing & many crowned her(Boxer) liberal icon.
Wakeup folks,how long are you going to keep getting played by these corrupt dems ?
hackworth @ 139
I wonder if Juan Cole saw my posting about a month back on this very site (yes, it was an exclusive) where I analyzed the claims in the Pentagon’s report on these Explosively Formed Projectiles. By using the Pentagon’s own published database on the causes of US military deaths in Iraq I found that the assertions were simply beyond credulity.
The Pentagon asserted that Shiite militias (particularly renegade militias split off from Sadr) are responsible for ALL EFP attacks…and that these groups are supplied by Iran.
But here’s the problem. Although the Pentagon doesn’t reveal EFP stats in the database (only general roadside bomb attacks, which includes EFP’s) if their claims are true, then many of the EFP attacks have to be done by these militias in areas that are under absolute Sunni control. I was able to do this analysis because the localities of the attacks are listed (although Baghdad areas are often not listed by neighborhood making it difficult to determine if the area is Sunni or Shiite controlled, or mixed). I decided to attribute all explosive attacks to Shiites in Baghdad, since this assumption would be a “best case” for the Pentagons case.
But when I removed ALL Sunni and Kurdish townships, villages and regions from consideration as being localities of EFP attacks…there was a problem. The numbers given by the Pentagon for July for EFP attacks were far more than the TOTAL number of attacks using explosive devices in all the Shiite and mixed areas (including all of Baghdad)…SO SOME of the EFP’s had to be in the Sunni or Kurdish “controlled” zones.
That’s just far-fetched, because it would require teams of these rebel Shiites to sneak into Sunni areas, plant the devices unnoticed in public areas, and wait about to target and detonate their bombs when a US patrol drove by. They would have to WAIT around! That would be a suicide mission with a high probability that these guys would be vivisected by the local militias before they had a chance to plant their bomb.
And remember this…ALL the explosive attacks attributed to “Shiites” (including the groups daft enough to try the above) would
a) have had to have used these notorious “Formed” explosives.
b) never have used any other sort of explosive device that cause a coalition casuality (NEVER).
In addition
c) none of the attacks by explosive devices of any sort could have occurred by non-Shiites in Baghdad or it’s immediate vicinity (despite the fact that attacks using non-EFP’s were widespread and common in places like Fallujah, Anbar Province, etc.)
If the groups receiving EFP’s are exclusively rebellious Shiites…breakaways from Sadr’s militia then
d) Sadr’s militias were absolutely avoiding attacking US forces in July, and not responsible for a single attack by roadside bomb of any type during this period.
e) these breakaway “rebels” NEVER used any other types of explosives to attack coalition forces. They exclusively use EFP’s.
f) These breakaway militias actually have control over most of Baghdad…since they appear to freely plant EFP’s throughout the city, even in neighborhoods widely thought to be Sadr strongholds and in mixed neighborhoods.
And of course ALL of these EFP’s have to be derived from Iran, despite the fact that any competant welder that could fasion a calypso steel-drum could produce the “lens” that makes these so deadly.
THAT’s what the Pentagon would have you believe!
Of course, there is another explanation to these statistics. It’s a quite simple one.
Any time that a vehicle is attacked and there are fatalities the Pentagon looks at the area. If it’s a Sunni or Kurdish stronghold they say “not EFP”…but if it’s a Shiite or mixed Shiite area…well that’s gonna be an EFP. The problem is that there are some cases of attacks that are attrributed to EFPs based on EVIDENCE…and these are in the Sunni-controlled areas. So you end up with more EFP’s that Shiite attacks.
Ooops! The case of fudging the facts to fit the policy- the demonization of IRAN, suddenly becomes clear.
And what really stinks about this is the Pentagon asserts that they don’t want to release the EFP information because “the enemy will use it to assess their effectiveness of targetting”. Yet the Pentagon’s own spokesmen have asserted that these EFP’s are extremely deadly, with high mortality levels. That when compared to other explosive devices these are several hundred times more likely to cause death. What more would an insurgent need to hear?
Thestats are held in abeyance because they would show that the Pentagon has been manipulating who has been using these bombs.
It’s not just Shiites, it’s Kurds and Sunnis. And thus it’s utterly unlikely that we can attribute THESE groups to being IRANIAN-BACKED splinter groups off the Mahdi Army.
No! EFP’s, even those made by the Shiites, are far more likely to be domestically produced…or provided by NON-IRANIAN sources. Iran, at the very least, is not the sole supplier of these weapons, if they are at all. People can manufacture them. They could derive from Saudi Arabia, or Lebanon, or Jordan, or even Kuwait. The casings are not that hard to manufacture.
For the candidates and their campaign managers: keep lookin’ good, speaking in short clear sentences, listening to the voters and responding directly to THE VOTER’S concerns. Congressional politics is local and personal, so get the candidates around to see and speak with as many people as possible (while still getting the candidate enough sleep).
If the candidate speaks from their heart about who they are, what their background has been, what they value and how they plan to address the voter’s needs, then they’re in the race.
Shays now has a serious problem – being 1/2 the man that Himes is, he’ll need to find someone twice as good as Maura.
Won’t happen – noone can hold a candle to our girl!!!! Congratulations! You are the best!
Read up on Eric Massa in Jane’s article, “The Wisdom of Rahm Emanuel Continues” posted Friday, 10/26, 12:08 p.m.