Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman announced today he will petition for a place on the November ballot as an “independent Democrat,” giving him a chance to stay alive politically should he lose an Aug. 8 primary for the Democratic nomination.

However, and this isn’t getting reported in the exultant liberal blog posts -

Even should he lose in August — and the most recent public poll shows him leading Lamont by 15 percentage points among likely primary voters.

Fifteen points is a huge lead. Don’t get your hopes up, liberals. Besides, challenger Ned Lamont’s own views on the war are Antiwar Lite at best.

Our best chance of success requires that the Iraqis take control of their own destiny. America should make clear that we have no designs upon their oil and no plans for permanent bases. While we will continue to provide logistical and training support as long as we are asked, our frontline military troops should begin to be redeployed and our troops should start heading home.

a) they clearly can’t take control of their destiny because there is no They in charge. b) US foreign policy for decades has focused on Middle East oil, yet Lamont ignores this. c) If you provide logistics and training, you are still there. Period.

There’s no acceptance by Lamont that the chaos in Iraq was caused by the illegal US invasion. Lamont doesn’t mention it was based on lies. And if, by his own words, troops need to remain there, that’s hardly bringing them home, now is it?

[tags]Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont[/tags]

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Federal prosecutors accused a former U.S. soldier Monday of raping and murdering a young Iraqi woman and gunning down her family, all of whose bodies were found burned in an apparent coverup.

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John Robb on what will happen after the inevitable and coming attack on Iran by the US.

The first wave: local counter-attacks. Oil prices spike. Global condemnation of the attack.

The second wave: the instability spreads across the globe and America is incapacitated. Protests against American policy abound (including domestically in the US), many of these may get violent. American businesses suffer. The US is plunged into a domestic political crisis.

The third wave: state failures.A gulf monarchy falls. Successful terrorist attacks on oil production systems have deepened the global energy crisis. The global economy goes into a severe and prolonged contraction.

Alarmist? It can’t happen here? Maybe… maybe not…

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Some Republicans said they hoped to have legislation in place by September, with influential liberal Democrats saying they expected to give Mr. Bush the necessary tools for handling the issue and not obstruct the bills.

Not a single Senator quoted in the story mumurred even the slightest criticism of the appalling conditions and torture at Gitmo. Not one. Not even the supposedly liberal Barney Frank. An opposition party that had actual gonads would use this as a perfect situtation to scream about the illegality of Gitmo. But not the Democrats who, if this is any indication, will probably lose again in November because they failed to differentiate between themselves and the Republicans.

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office said Saturday he was ordering the release of dozens of intelligence reports prepared for the state Office of Homeland Security — a step that comes as lawmakers from both parties are denouncing a practice in which state intelligence agents compiled information about political and antiwar protests and rallies.

He only did this because negative publicity forced him to, piously saying this will show “the practice was not more widespread.” But that wasn’t what people were upset about. Rather, they quite rightfully are upset that it was happening at all.

“The governor believes that any inappropriate information gathering like this is totally unacceptable,” Adam Mendelsohn, Schwarzenegger’s communications director, said in an interview.

Oh spare me the bullshit. If he thought it was unacceptable, why did he allow it? As I recall, there’s a Democrat running for governor. Perhaps he could come out of his mouse hole and attack on this issue? Just a thought…

We shall see if ANSWER LA (or myself, for that matter) are in any of them.

No, that’s no paranoia…

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Mexico’s presidential vote was too close to call through a quick count of ballots, underscoring a divide within the country over whether to spend more to help the poor or stick with economic policies that favor business.

Full results won’t be known until Wednesday, with the real possibility the leftist candidate Opador Obrador might win.

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Israeli troops move into Gaza

Hundreds of troops and tanks to rescue one soldier. 1.3 million Palestinians have had their water and power knocked out by the invaders. It’s all quite insane and recklessly violent.

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