I’m really disappointed they aren’t going to be here. Tickets purchased…..concert was cancelled. What a shame that the idiots in this country let their stupidity get in the way of enjoying great music!!!

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09/04/06 Reuters: U.S. troops kill five in assault in Muqdadiya
U.S. troops killed five men in a ground assault and air strike on what they called a “safe house”, targeting a person involved in moving money and foreign fighters into Iraq. A child was also killed in the fighting in Muqdadiya, northeast of Baghdad
09/04/06 Reuters: Two bodyguards of Sunni parliament member killed in Taji
Two bodyguards of a Sunni Arab member of Iraq’s parliament, Falah Zaidan, were shot dead in Taji, just north of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said. Zaidan and his party were not immediately available for comment.
09/04/06 MNF: Task Force Band of Brothers Soldier killed by IED
A Soldier from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division was killed by an IED yesterday near Baqubah.
09/04/06 Soldier Dies of Non-Combat Related Causes
A 15th Sustainment Brigade Soldier died of non-combat injuries during the early morning hours on Sep. 4. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.
09/04/06 MNF: Task Force Band of Brothers Soldier dies
A Soldier from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division died Sunday from wounds sustained after his vehicle was struck by an IED near Mosul.
09/04/06 NYTimes: In one Iraqi neighborhood, security returns
Three weeks after American and Iraqi troops began searching, fortifying and patrolling Dora, one of the bloodiest neighborhoods in Baghdad, the stench of death on the streets has eased
09/04/06 Reuters: Roadside bomb wounds two in Karrada district
A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol exploded near al-Wathiq intersection in Karrada district, central Baghdad, wounding two people, including one policeman, an Interior Ministry source said.
09/04/06 Reuters: Two car bombs explode near Iraqi army checkpoint
Two car bombs exploded in quick succession on Sunday at an Iraqi army checkpoint on a road that links Abu Ghraib and Baghdad, killing or wounding seven Iraqi army soldiers and destroying one military vehicle, Falluja policeman Ammar Abd said.
09/04/06 Reuters: Former member of Republican Guard killed
Major General Mohammed al-Fahdawi, a former commander of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Sunday in an area just east of Ramadi…a relative and a hospital source said. He was the third high-ranking…
09/04/06 MNF: Two Marines killed in Al Anbar
Two Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died Sept. 3 due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province.
09/04/06 AFP: Police recover 33 bullet-riddled bodies in Baghdad
At least 33 bullet-riddled bodies of Iraqi men murdered in apparent sectarian killings were recovered by Iraqi forces across Baghdad on Monday, a security official told AFP.
09/04/06 DoD: British soldier seriously wounded
One other British soldier was seriously injured, and a further soldier suffered minor injuries. Both have been evacuated for emergency medical care and taken by helicopter to a British Field Hospital at Shaibah Logistics Base.
09/04/06 MoD: Two British soldiers killed in Iraq
two British soldiers in Iraq today…The soldiers died following an attack on a British patrol near the town of Ad Dayr, north of Basrah City. The patrol was subject to an attack by a roadside bomb and small arms fire.
09/04/06 telegraph: Popular Iraqi footballer kidnapped
A popular Iraqi footballer who was planning to move to play in Syria has been kidnapped in Baghdad. Ghanim Ghudayer, 22, a former Olympic player, is considered one of the best players in Baghdad’s Air Force Club.
09/04/06 Reuters: U.S. army says dead soldiers not linked to Iraqi rape
The U.S. military in Iraq said on Monday that three soldiers killed by kidnappers in June do not appear to have had any involvement in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and her family in the same area.
09/04/06 Reuters: Bomb wounds two British soldiers in southern Iraq
Two British soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their convoy near the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Monday, a British military spokesman said.
09/04/06 Reuters: Gunmen wound five tourists in central Amman; one arrested
Two gunmen, including at least one Iraqi, opened fired at a group of foreign tourists in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday, wounding five, a Jordanian security source said.
09/03/06 arabnews: 21 Iraqis Die in Baquba Attacks
Twenty one Iraqis have been killed - including two policemen and four children - in a series of attacks in Baquba northeast of Baghdad, security sources said yesterday.
09/03/06 Reuters: Gunmen kill Hassan al-Jawadi
Gunmen killed Hassan al-Jawadi in the southern Shi’ite city of Amara on Sunday, police said. Police and local representatives of Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, denied media reports that Jawadi was a representative of Sistani
09/03/06 hindustantimes: Killed Indians buried in Iraq
The three Indians, killed by unidentified people in Iraq, were buried in Karbala on Sunday, government said in New Delhi as efforts were underway to ensure return of other members of the group of 14 in a couple of days.
09/03/06 stltoday: Soldier from Desloge is killed in Iraq
Michael Deason, 28, died Thursday when an armor-piercing grenade struck his Humvee, part of an attack on a six-vehicle convoy, his wife told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for Sunday’s edition.
09/03/06 charlotteobserver: Marine from Charlotte killed in Iraq
On Friday, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Golla — the only son of Polish immigrants — died near Habbaniyah in central Iraq in a roadside bombing. He was serving a second tour in Iraq, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, Lima Company…
09/03/06 MNF: Two Marines Killed in Separate Incidents in Al Anbar (part 2)
The second report indicated one Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province September 3.
09/03/06 MNF: Two Marines Killed in Separate Incidents in Al Anbar (part 1)
The first report indicated one Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province September 1.
09/03/06 AFP: Kurdish leader attacks Arab politicians over Iraqi flag
The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region has launched a scathing attack on Iraqi Arab leaders Sunday over their opposition to his order banning the national flag from public buildings.
09/03/06 KUNA: Two mass graves discovered near Kirkuk
Two mass graves were discovered Sunday by the Iraqi police and an Iraqi human rights committee west of Kirkuk city northern Iraq. A police source in Kirkuk stated that a mass grave, which held 20 victims in it, was found in Tobzawah village west of Kirkuk
09/03/06 WaPo: Despite stigma, number of Iraqi orphans increases
Social workers and Iraqi officials say the steady climb in the number of orphans turned over to the government - which has required the construction of three new orphanages in Baghdad alone in the past three years - reflects the toll…
09/03/06 AFP: Iraqi AFP journalist kidnapped
An Iraqi freelance journalist working as a stringer for news agency Agence France-Presse has been abducted in Baghdad after visiting a relative in a government-run jail.
09/03/06 KUNA: Kuwait expresses dismay at recurring Iraqi border violations
Kuwait notified Iraq on Sunday about its dismay at recurring violations and attacks on national territories across the northern borders between the two countries.
09/03/06 MNF: 2 MND-B Soldiers killed by roadside bomb (confirmed)
Two Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers died at approximately 6:20 a.m. Sunday when the vehicle they were riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device in eastern Baghdad.
09/03/06 AP: Two policemen killed in Baghdad
On Sunday morning, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in eastern Baghdad killed two policemen and a civilian and wounded three policemen, police Maj. Mahir Hameed Mosa said.
09/03/06 AP: Mortar Attack Kills 6 Near Baghdad
A mortar attack east of Baghdad killed six people, including two children, as a dispute emerged over transferring control of the armed forces from the U.S.-led coalition to the Iraqi government.
09/03/06 dpa: Kurdish authorities ready to hand over suspects in Anfal case
A senior Kurdish official said Sunday that authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan would be willing to hand over suspected collaborators in the 1988 massacre of over 100,000 Kurds in Anfal
09/03/06 Reuters: Iraq, U.S. locked in dispute over military handover
Talks between the United States and Iraq over the transfer of operational command of Iraq’s armed forces were deadlocked on Sunday, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanding more independence from the U.S. military.
09/03/06 WaPo: Al-Qaeda Leader Arrested in Iraq
Iraqi armed forces have arrested the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq… The leader, Hamed Jumaa Faris Juri al-Saaydi, was captured within the past few days near Baqubah along with 20 other senior members of the Sunni Arab insurgent group

Source

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Thanks to lafin gas for reminding us of Woody Guthrie and his contributions to the labor movement. In this Guthrie tribute, the words of his music are sung by Guthrie, Springsteen, Bono, Harris, Little Richard, Mellencamp.

This Land Is Your Land

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Waitresses at Woolworth’s staged an eight-day sitdown strike in 1937, singing, dancing, exercising, doing each others hair and nails until finally management recognized their union and gave them a five-cent per hour pay hike.

“Union Maid”
There once was a union maid;
She never was afraid
Of goons and ginks and company finks
And the deputy sheriffs that made the raid.
She went to the union hall
When a meeting it was called,
And when the company boys came ’round
She always stood her ground.

 

 

More labor movement history:

Patricia K. Zacharias

The Detroit News

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These days it seems innocuous enough. Just another day off for hot dogs, boating or yard work.

It’s such a laid-back holiday we don’t even put up decorations. Even if we did, what would they be? Who wants to hang a sledgehammer on the wall, or look at pictures of steam shovels?

Yet despite its bland facade, Labor Day has its place in the pantheon of American celebrations born of human suffering - yes, even bloodshed.

The idea for a national observance to honor labor sprang from the unrest of the latter third of the 19th century. Union historians pinpoint Sept. 5, 1882, as the first actual Labor Day, the highlight of which was a parade in New York City by 20,000 people demanding an eight-hour workday.

Read more here

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Senator Faults Bush, Rumsfeld for Favoring Attacks Over Solutions

ED O’KEEFE
ABC News

Sept. 3, 2006 - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., shot back at the White House after a week of Bush administration speeches attempted to portray the war in Iraq as the central front in the war on terror and Democrats as appeasers who had not learned the lessons of past conflicts.

In an exclusive appearance on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Biden responded to a quartet of hard-line speeches from nearly every top administration official.

“When you run out of ideas, what you do is attack,” he said.

“What is the plan for Iraq?” Biden repeatedly demanded. “There is no political solution offered here, there is no plan.”
…

“The administration’s very flat footed; it’s almost dysfunctional right now,” Biden said.
…

“We still have a giant problem with North Korea, a giant problem with Iran [and] a war - a civil war - in Iraq,” he added. “The American people are united in thinking that they are not a single threat.

“It’s sad that no one in the administration is speaking to what [the] solutions are,” he added.

more…

Good interview. We need lots more of these between now and November.

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BRENDAN FARRINGTON
(AP) 09.03.2006

Gov. Jeb Bush is leaving office after eight years, and Florida voters will take the first step Tuesday in deciding whether they want to elect someone who shares his values or a governor who will seek to dismantle some of the Republican’s key programs.

It’s a race that all of the candidates say could be a bellwether for the 2008 presidential election, saying that as Florida goes, so goes the nation. It’s also an opportunity for the state’s once-dominant Democrat Party to quickly get back some of the power it has lost in recent years.
…

Bush, a powerful governor with a conservative agenda who is being forced out by term limits, has overhauled the education system, expanded privatization, given billions in tax breaks and begun a program to make Medicaid more like private managed care.

full article

You’ve got to love term limits. Without them, Bonzo would still be president!

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Thomas Ferraro

Reuters
Monday, September 4, 2006; 9:01 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers return to work on Tuesday from a month-long recess with time running out for Republicans to pass legislation, impress unhappy voters and retain control of Congress in the November 7 elections. With the stakes so high, both parties will jockey for political advantage in the coming weeks, particularly over the increasingly unpopular Iraq war and the battle against terrorism, as the majority Republicans and minority Democrats debate who can best protect the United States.

“I’m afraid politics will take over and we won’t get much done, other than some appropriation bills,” said Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican.

full article

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Australian environmentalist and television personality Steve Irwin has died during a diving accident.Mr Irwin, 44, was killed by a stingray barb to the chest while he was filming an underwater documentary in Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef.

BBC article here

NYT article here

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