BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 13 - Less than two days before nationwide elections, Iraqi border police seized a tanker on Tuesday that had just crossed from Iran filled with thousands of forged ballots, an official at Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

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The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the Iranian truck driver told the police under interrogation that at least three other trucks filled with ballots had crossed from Iran at different spots along the border.

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At a news conference on Tuesday, hours before the ballot seizure, the American ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, spoke of what he said were overt Iranian attempts to influence events in Iraq.

It's late, but I wanted to revisit it and share a few more of my thoughts, in light of this new occurrence.

"Let's see, we have all the keywords - Dem Leader, Senator Reid, money, indictment..."

The implication is that Reid may have been laundering Federal money through this Church. But it just doesn't work.

So my thoughts on the police killing in London don't come from some standpoint of being completely adverse to firearms or police, or even because I "hate America". I'm just looking at the facts and trying to be logical.

Watching America

What is it?

In the words of the Christian Science Monitor:
'A glimpse of how foreigners feel about the only superpower.'

Up to the minute edited (read: not Babelfish gibberish) English translations of hundreds of foreign news articles. Just a perusal of the main page, with articles for July thus far, is mind-blowing.

Have a nice day.

Seven House Republicans - "WHAT! How dare you! Don't you know that people are still dying there every day, and... uhhh... we still have to find Osama Bin Laden... oh... sh*t."

This is the equivalent of choking someone to death with his own arm. Like injecting a virus into the mothership. Pure brilliance. The only thing we can hope is that the outrage against Ms. Pelosi's outrageous and callous remarks continues; the sound you heard was the sound of 150 million Republican heads popping as they try to mentally contain the concept that the war on Afghanistan is not over until we find Osama Bin Laden, even though Fearless Leader "doesn't really care where he is."

"I'll take Cognitive Dissonance for $1000 please, Alex."

As you may recall, much hay was made in the past of the fact that chickenhawk Rush Limbaugh avoided service in Vietnam due to having a pilonidal cyst, described as "an ingrown hair on one's ass".

Update [2005-5-24 7:40:11 by steppenwulf]: Suggest you don't click on that cyst link unless you have a cast-iron stomach. Sorry to any troubled by recurring images of what they saw. And yes, this is meant to be taken with a side of snark; I tend to have a very dry sense of humor such that others can't detect my snark. It's "stealth snark". After this experience, I'm actually more inclined to believe that El Rushbo and/or his parents probably searched the yellow pages and paid good money for a Dr. who would diagnose that he was 4-F, and pilonidal cyst was likely a good excuse.

I did this earlier today, and in light of kos's later apologetics attempting to rationalize this behavior - I understand all of these realities, and that's why there's no four letter words or outright accusation in my little epistle. That's why I concede that, although the bill might not be defeated, continued debate and the threat of filibuster might reach a compromise less damaging to working-class families, or at least keep the bill "in the news cycle" and continue to raise public awareness of how one-sided it is.

My only hope is to let my representative know, "I'm watching, so at least try to live your principles even when political realities intervene."

Will update diary when response is received.